Dragon Age Origins: A Novel
by DiscordantSymphony
Summary: (Book 1 of 7) A blight has come to Ferelden and seven grey wardens and their band of companions must stand against it, lest the world be lost to darkness. But...Men's hearts hold shadow's darker than any darkspawn or Demon. The first book of a series of novelizations. Will stay close to the source material in most cases but will deviate in others. Not sure if enough to be an AU.
1. Chapter 1

Dragon Age:

Origins

(Book 1 of 7)

 _Magic exists to serve man and never to rule over him:_

 _-Canticle of Transfigurations 1:2_

The circle tower stood proud over lake Calenhad, it dominated the skyline and no matter from which way you came you could see it from miles off. For hundreds of years the mages of Ferelden had called it home, willingly or not. It protected the outside world from them and it protected them from the outside world.

But living here was not without it's share of dangers, magic was practiced within these walls and while the senior enchanters did everything in their power to make sure that these studies were as safe as possible it wasn't possible to remove all danger, a nervous apprentice who missed timed his spell could cause great damage.

There were also the Templars, placed in every Circle all over Thedas in order to make sure that not only that mages were safe but that they were controlled as well. If a Templar suspected that a mage was practicing blood magic or that they were dealing with a demon then they only needed to raise their concerns with the knight commander and an investigation would be launched.

The mage could then only pray that the investigation found them innocent because if it did not then their life was over, a blade would be run through them as soon as the guilty verdict would be declared.

But only one danger in the tower was entirely unavoidable, the Harrowing. Any mage that resided in the tower had to take the Harrowing, that or be made tranquil, a fate that most agreed would be worse than death. The Harrowing sent the mage's mind into the Fade, the realm were all but dwarfs went when they dreamed and where demons and sprits resided.

Of course, this was only known to those who had passed their harrowing, for apprentices the Harrowing was only spoken off in hushed whispers and they spoke of what they thought the dreaded test actually included.

Right now, one apprentice Mage was being taken for her harrowing...

Neria Surana had always been told that she was pretty, plenty of humans had felt the need to add "For an elf", with long dark hair and green eyes she had plenty of people express an interest in her. She had also used her good looks to get her out of a few tight spots, but right now at this exact moment she knew that her looks would be of no help to her, she would have to rely on her skills and knowledge.

The group of Templars that were escorting her up the tower had gotten her out of her bed a few moments ago, for a heart stopping moment she had been terrified that someone had falsely accused her of practicing blood magic but they had simply told her that she needed to come with them.

They left the ground floor where the apprentice quarters were located and began to ascend the tower, she didn't think that she had ever been up this high in her entire left and she had spent most of that in the tower. She didn't remember anything of her life before the tower and she didn't care enough to ask.

It didn't take them all that long to reach the top of the tower, it was a large domed chamber with a bowl on a stand in the middle of it. Standing in the room were the two most important people in the entire circle First Enchanter Irving, an old man with grey hair and a brushy beard and grey eyes, and Knight Commander Greagoir, an man in his mid-fifties wearing Templar armour and wielding a sword.

"Magic exists to serve man and never to rule over him." Greagoir spoke, his voice echoing in the chamber. "So spoke our prophet Andraste as she cast down the Tevinter Imperium. Ruled by mages who brought the world to the edge of ruin."

 _"Great, have I been brought here to listen to chantry propaganda?"_ Neria thought darkly but she kept her attention on what Greagoir was saying, not out of any real interest but it wouldn't do to irritate the Knight Commander and she didn't want the First Enchanter to think of her as disrespectful.

"Your magic is a gift, but it is also a curse. Like fire, it can help others but if control is lost than it can also destroy." Greagoir spoke before Irving took over.

"Thus there is the Harrowing, a way for us to see to see if you are not only in control but if you can also resist temptation." Irving spoke, far more gently than Greagoir, like a wise old sage. "As such, your mind will be sent into the fade where you will seek out a demon and kill it."

Neria gasped but quickly straightened her back, she had always figure that it would be something like this. "I am ready." She hoped that her voice sounded stronger than she actually felt.

Greagoir seemed to have noticed her hesitation. "If you do not feel you are ready then there is another option, the rite of tranquillity."

"I would rather die." Neria said as soon the words came out of his mouth. "I said that I am ready and I meant it."

Greagoir nodded and stepped away. "Very well, but know that if you fail then we Templars will do our sacred duty and strike you down if need be."

"There's no need to scare her any more than she already is Greagoir." Irving gently scolded the Knight Commander before he gently took Neria's hand and lead her over to the raised bowl. "Place your hand in the bowl child, and good luck."

Neria looked down in the bowl that was fully of a shiny blue liquid, it was Lyrium, it was a liquid created from a mineral that when ingested could boost a mage's natural power. She had never touch Lyrium before, it was always held in glass vials and the instructors always told them to take care in not to spill it...

She placed her hand in the liquid and suddenly the rest of the world seemed very far, it seemed to shake and shudder and she fell to the floor as the world began to turn black.

And through out it all, she could here someone singing.

End of Chapter One


	2. Chapter 2

Dragon Age:

Origins

(Book 1 of 7)

Chapter Two.

When Neria awoke she realised that was probably the wrong word, her vision was hazy and everything seemed like it was far off and in the distance. In the grey-green sky she could see large chunks of land floating in the sky and if she strained her ears she could hear someone whispering even through there was no one near by.

"So, this is the Fade." Neria realised with a sigh before she shook her head, there wasn't any point in standing around feeling sorry for herself, sure she was stuck in a realm filled with demons and sprits but countless others had manged to pass this stupid test and she would be no different.

She picked a random direction and began to walk, she was a little unsure about wither she was looking for a specific demon or if she could just kill any demon and that would do. She had to admit that she was a little unsure about using her magic in actual combat, she knew various offensive and defensive spells but she never been in a position where she actually had to use them before.

The layout of this place made no sense, the land seemed to be...shifting. Abstract shapes dotted the land and there was no smell, no taste in the air. This place was unreal, no awake mind was ever meant to come here.

Suddenly there was a loud and booming laughter and Neria wimped her head around to see where it was coming from but there was nothing around her, the laughter was coming from nowhere.

It stopped as suddenly as it started and Neria felt disoriented, her head was pounding and her hands were sweating and her back felt cold and she took large gulps of air but she couldn't seem to fill her lungs no matter how hard she tried.

She didn't have worry to about wither she was having a panic attack or not because at that moment, what she could only describe as living shadows peeled of the ground and began to encircle her. There was laughter again but it wasn't the booming laughter from before, this was a deep chuckling.

Shades.

They were trying to trap her, they were going to kill her and she was surrounded on all sides by them. She had to get out, she had to do something.

A desperate idea suddenly came to her, she closed her eyes and pressed her fingertips to both sides of her temple and focused, there was a deep pressure and as what felt like a cold, bony hand reached out and clasped around her arm she let it out.

The shades screamed as the blast of mental energy sent them flying back, Neria didn't have time to worry about being dizzy as she knew that her mind blast wouldn't hold them back for long, she ran for it and turned around as soon as she was far enough away from them.

The shades had recovered and were coming after, slithering and looking almost like a tidal wave of darkness. She wanted to run but she knew that she would never pass her test if she did. She held out her hands, breathed and pushed.

A jet of flame rushed out of her hands and struck the swarm of shades, the creatures screamed and broke off from one another and swarmed around the small area like an angry hive of wasps. Soon, the creatures fade away almost as if they had never even been there to start with.

Neria panted and closed her eyes and tried to catch her breath, she had managed to survive but she wasn't doing the best on her Harrowing. This was certainly...harrowing, she couldn't help buy let out a bitter chuckle as she realised how perfectly named this test was.

When she was feeling slightly better she resumed her search, she didn't even make it two steps when she heard a loud scream off in the distance.

Neria didn't even question it, she ran in the direction of the scream. If it was a trap then it was probably set by the demon she was meant to kill.

When she reached what had made the scream she was more than a little surprised, a demon made of what could only be called living flame was chasing a little mouse. The sight would almost be amusing if it wasn't so surreal.

"You! Help me!" The mouse screamed as Neria decided right there and then that nothing about this realm made any sense and she was never going to come back here by choice.

The demon's attention had been drawn to her by the mice's shout and the creature let out a scream full of rage and it began to slide towards her, leaving a trail of fire behind it. Neria focused and threw her arms out to her side, channelling her magic and sending a blast of cold towards the demon.

The demon shirked in pain and reeled back before Neria followed up her attack by blasting the demon with a blot of lightning. The demon roared as it hit, it fell to the ground and almost seemed to melt in to it.

The mouse painted and scurried over to Neria, it looked up at Neria with black eyes and spoke. "You saved me! Thank you so much!"

Neria wasn't sure what voice she expected to her from a taking mouse but she certainly wasn't expecting him to sound like a twenty year old man, mind you she hadn't expected a taking mouse at all today.

"You're mage aren't you?" The mouse said and Neria nodded.

"And you're a taking mouse." As soon as she said that the mouse let out a heavy sigh.

"I wasn't always." The mouse glowed and grow in shape and standing now where the mouse had been was a man with sandy blond hair and not looking much older than her, he was dressed in apprenticeship robes. "I was once a mage like you, let me guess. You're on your Harrowing, right?"

"I might be, why?" Neria asked as called on her power again, ready to strike if she needed to. She couldn't trust anything about this place.

"Because I was you once, I was a mage on my Harrowing. I was so full of Pride, I was ready and I was certain that I would pass with flying colours. I took too long and the Templars...I don't know what they did but my body died." The man said, his voice had suddenly gone quiet. "If you body dies in the real world then your mind gets stuck here, if I been here for...I don't how long."

"That won't happen to me." Neria said quietly.

"That's what I thought, beware your pride." The man said. "Let me help you, I think I know where the demon your looking for is."

"Why would you help me?" Neria asked with narrowed eyes.

"I wouldn't condemn anyone to this walking hell, what do you say?" The man asked and Neria nodded with a sigh, the man smiled and glowed before turning back into a mouse.

"So, uh. What do I call you?" Neria asked as she and the mouse began to walk.

"Mouse will do, I forget my name a long time ago. Spend too long here and you forget everything." Mouse said, the tone making it clear that he didn't want to talk about it.

Neria nodded and kept walking. "How can you turn into a mouse and back? Shapeshifting was declared unholy and all texts on the subject were burned centuries ago."

"It's one of the few tricks I've picked up here, it's rare being that small for others to notice me so I'm usually safe." Mouse said as he started to pick up speed. "Hurry up, just over that ridge I think!"

Neria ran after mouse and reached the top of the ridge just after him, she looked down into a clearing and standing there was a small cottage. Neria could only stare at it dumbly, it looked...familiar.

She followed Mouse down to the cottage, almost as if she was in a trance. Even from the outside she could smell something, something pleasant but she supposed that anything would smell okay after not smelling anything at all. Just as the cottage was familiar, so was the smell.

Neria breathed and pushed the door open, the inside of the cottage was dark and the small was so much stronger inside. In the middle of the room was a small wooden table and on the floor near it was a brown teddy bear. Neria walked over to the bear and picked it up. "Grumplefur." She muttered.

"Snap out of it, something's coming!" Mouse shouted and Neria looked up just in time to see another elf, this one male with tanned skin, grey hair and purple eyes step into the room. He was holding a large brass pot which Neria knew was full of his famous stew.

"Papa." Neria breathed, clutching her bear close to her chest. Her father gave her a comforting smile and walked over to the table, placed the pot in the middle of it and walked over to her and pulled her into a hug.

"Hello love, I've missed you so much. Look how big you've gotten! Oh, you're just as beautiful as your mother." Her father as he brushed a lock of black hair behind her ear. "Sit down, you're far too thin. Don't the people at the circle feed you?"

"This isn't real, you have to snap out of it. That isn't your father!" Mouse hissed and Neria frowned, something was wrong.

"Papa, when the Templars came for me..." Neria said, furrowing her brow. It was so hard to remember. "You wouldn't let them take me, you tried to stop them you...

"Don't think about it love, it's in the past. I'm alright and so are you and we're safe." Her father said soothingly but she noticed that there was a hint of frustration in his voice. "Sit down love, eat."

"No. No. The Templars, they came and then you tried to stop them and they..." Her mind was suddenly assaulted by images, the door of their house being broken open, her father yelling at the Templars, two of the Templars grabbing her, her father trying to stop them, her father lying on the ground with a pool of blood around his head.

"You're not my father!" Neria shouted and stepped back, a dark frown appeared on the imposter's face and he swung out of his arm in a wide arch. An unseen force picked Neria up and threw her into the far wall, the bear slipping out of her fingers.

"Foolish child! I offer you your heart's desire and you refuse it!? Very well, if you will not give me what I want by choice then I shall take it by force!" The imposter began to walk towards her and Neria, without thinking threw out her arm and a lightning bolt shot out of her palm and struck the imposter in the chest.

The bolt had been fuelled by anger, rage and pain and grief and mourning for a life not had. The imposter jolted as it struck and it fell to the ground not moving.

Neria cried as the imposter and the cabin began to fade away, leaving only her, Mouse and the landscape. Mouse turned back into a human and walked over to her. "You did it, you resisted the demon and killed it with one spell. I've never seen a mage with such potential before."

Neria sniffed and looked back up at Mouse. "Thanks for the complement." She said bitterly.

"You know...there may be a way out for me. You're so powerful I might be able to follow you out. All you need to do is...let me in." Mouse said as he knelt in front of her.

Neria chuckled bitterly. "You know, I'm starting to think that demon wasn't my real test after all."

A look of shock appeared on Mouse's face. "What? No! You passed the test, you killed the demon! You-" Mouse closed his eyes and laughed. "You are far to smart."

Mouse stood up and spoke, his voice was different now, deeper and older. Powerful. "The real dangers of the Fade are careless trust, preconceptions. Pride." Mouse glowed and grew, Neria gasped at the demon in front of her. A purple creature which had head with twenty eyes and stood ten times her size. "Keep your wits about you mage, true tests...never end."

And just like that, the demon was gone.

Suddenly the entire landscape began to fade away and Neria was overcome by darkness, before she fell into it however she heard someone's voice, she wasn't sure but it sounded like the first enchanter."

"Thank the Maker, she's done it."

End of Chapter Two


	3. Chapter 3

Dragon Age:

Origins

(Book 1 of 7)

Chapter Three.

Neria came to when she heard someone creeping towards her, her eyes popped open and she shoot up when she saw the shadowy shape looming over her. "Get away from me Demon!" She cried out and held out her hand, ready to blast it away from her.

"Neria! It's just me!" The shrill voice cried and Neira lowered her arm, she peered at the shape in the darkness and she could just make out it's plain features.

Jowan.

"You scared the crap out of me! What in the Maker's name were you doing creeping around in the dark?" Neria said as she turned in the bed so her legs were dangling over the edge. "For that matter," She mused as she glanced around the dark apprentice quarters. "Why is it so dark in here?"

"The First Enchanter said you were to have total peace and quite while you rested, they asked me to look after you while you recovered from your Harrowing." Jowan said as he placed his finger on the wick of a candle which was resting on the small table next to Neria's bed and channelled a flame into, causing a small glow to light the area.

Now that there was light Neria could more easily make out Jowan's features and she noticed that he looked terrible, he clearly hadn't shaved in days and he was very pale which made the dark bags under his eyes all the more noticeable. She had noticed that he had also been jumpy for the last couple of days as well.

"Here." Jowan said as he picked up a glass vial that was on the table and handed it to her. "Wynne said you were supposed to drink this when you woke up, it'll help you get your energy back."

Neria gingerly took the vial and pulled out the cork stopper before pouring it into her mouth, it taste of ginger ale which was a pleasant surprise as most potions tasted like old socks and as soon as it went down her throat she suddenly felt a lot better, almost like she could run for miles.

"Not bad." Neria said with a hum as she placed the vial back on the table. "Remind to thank Wynne the next time I see her."

"You'll have to wait a bit then, Wynne's gone. She left about an hour after she gave me that potion." Jowan said with a shrug as he sat down in a chair that was placed next to Neria's bed.

Neria frowned. "Gone? Gone where? How long have I been out?"

"You've been sleeping about two days, I was getting worried but the First Enchanter told it was perfectly normal. Apparently one mage after their Harrowing was out for an entire week, and Wynne's gone to Ostagar." Jowan informed her.

"Ostagar?" Neria asked with a raised eyebrow, she had never heard of that before. "Where's that?"

"Didn't you pay any attention in History class?" Jowan asked with an annoyed sigh. "It's an old Tevinter fortress, Wynne and few other senior enchanters have been summoned their by the King and no before you ask, no, I don't know why.

"Now." Jowan began as he leaned forward, the light candle causing dark shadows to fly across his face. "It's my turn to ask you a question. Your Harrowing, what was it like?"

"It was...Harrowing, I'll tell you that much." Neria grinned as Jowan groaned and crossed his arms, tilting his head back to look at the roof of the dorm. "Seriously, Jowan we're friends but you know I can't tell you anything about it. You'll find out soon enough anyway."

"Maybe." Jowan muttered darkly as he looked at his friend. "I've been here longer than you have, and almost every apprentice has gone through their Harrowing. I'm starting to worry it'll never be my turn."

"Oh, that's crazy." Neria said as she stood up, stretching her arms and letting out a groan. "You'll be called any day now, I know it."

"Whatever." Jowan said with a shake of his head. "And now you get to move to the fancy mage quarters upstairs while I'm stuck here." He muttered before sighing. "The First Enchanter said he wanted to see you when you got up by the way."

"Well, I shouldn't keep him waiting." Neria said before she placed her hand on his shoulder. "Try not to worry about it." All she got was a grunt so she decided it was time to leave.

The trunk at the end of her bed which held all her belongs was gone so she assumed that someone had moved it to her new quarters, she noticed that most of the other apprentices were still in bed so given how dark it was it was probably early in the morning. Which meant any hope of getting breakfast was dashed.

She quietly left the room and shut the door behind her, the stone walls of the tower greeting her. The stairwell to the upper level was in the library.

As she walked through the corridors she couldn't help but laugh as the giddiness in her gut caught her off guard, she had done it! She was officially a mage of the circle!

She was so caught up in her thoughts she didn't notice the Templar she bumped into until it was too late and she was falling to the ground.

As she sat up and rubbed her head the Templar knelt in front of her. "I am so sorry! I didn't see you I didn't-" Neria looked up as the Templar's breath caught in his throat.

"It's alright Cullen, could you just help me up please?" Cullen quickly shot up and gently pulled her up, a deep blush covering his face.

"I am really sorry Neira, I didn't watch were I was going." Cullen said, his voice quiet as he played with his fingers. "Are you alright? I didn't hurt you did I?"

"I'm fine Cullen, really. I should've been watching were I was going as well." Neria soothed as she brushed her hair back. "How are you today? Oh, by the way did you hear that I finished my Harrowing?"

"I'm well and...yes I did know, I was there." Cullen said as he rubbed the back of his head, looking equal parts awkward and ashamed. "You did not see me because I was wearing my helm but I was there, I was the one who...was chosen to slay you should you fall to the demon's temptation."

Neria wasn't stupid, she was well aware of Cullen's infatuation with her and while it was not one she shared she could see that admitting such a thing had pained him as obviously had the thought of having to do his duty. She decided to be kind to him. "It's alright Cullen, I know you vows to the Maker come before all else and I came through my Harrowing just fine, nothing to worry about."

"That is very generous of you to say, thank you Neria." Cullen said with a blush. "If you will excuse me, I must continue with my duties or the Knight-Commander will have my head." With a quick nod the young Templar practically sprinted down the corridor.

Neria chuckled and shook her before she continued to make her way to the library. It didn't take her long and she quickly made her way through, she saw that enchanters were teaching the young children and apprentices and older apprentices were studying and she didn't want to disturb any of them.

The stairway to the second level of the tower was in a back room off of the main library, it was a long climb and again she hated whoever decided that this Circle should be held in a tower.

It took her about ten minutes and while Neria thought of herself as being in relatively good shape the climb had still robbed her of her breath, before opening the door at the top of the stairs Neria took a moment to catch her breath and compose herself. After all she was going to be living with the mages and enchanters now, she didn't want their first impression of her to be a sweaty pig.

Once she felt comfortable enough she pushed the door open and walked in the large chamber beyond, this was the Circle's stockroom where full mages could requstion magical items to help them in there studies. Neria may not have been a full mage before but apprentices had come up to help move things and she had often had to carry items that the enchanters had requisitioned as they were apparently too good to carry them themselves.

"Welcome to the circle stockroom. Can I help you?" While the voice that had said it had been in a dull monotone it still made Neria jump, she spun on her feet and let out a breath of relief.

"Owain! You scared me!" She shouted, the Tranquil showed no reaction. She imagined that someone with no emotions couldn't really react anyway.

"My apologises. Can I help you?" Owain asked again.

"No thank you Owain, I need to go and see the First Enchanter." The Tranquil nodded and when he realised that he was not required for anything went back to tending to the stock rooms like Neria had never even been there to start with.

The Tranquils before made Neria sad and scared her more than she would ever like to admit, to be cut off completely from the fade, to lose all their magic which even the Chantry, however grudgingly, admitted was a gift, was bad enough but to lose all emotion? To lose all joy and sadness and pain and anger?

Neria couldn't bare the thought of it. She had meant what she had told the Knight-Commander in the Harrowing chamber.

She would rather die than be like that.

She quickly left the stockroom, she really didn't want to think about it anymore.

The room beyond the stockroom was another library and while this one was much smaller than the library below, this one only spanned a single room while the one below took up an entire hall worth of space, she felt far more excited to be in this one than she would ever the one below her feet.

This library held all the most interesting and advanced texts, here was where she could learn to crush a man in an invisible cage, here she could learn to heal someone of even the most fatal of injuries, here was the knowledge of how to summon storms and gales and how to make fire rain from the sky.

She knew that she should keep the First Enchanter waiting but surely he would mind if she just had a quick flip through one of the old, heavy tomes? He probably still though that she was asleep, a quick look wouldn't hurt.

She walked to one of the shelves, ignoring two enchanters arguing about something that she didn't really care about, and picked up a heavy tome entitled " _The school of Sprit, how to hold back death_." As began to flip through the book she noticed something odd out of the corner of her eye and looked up to see if she was seeing what she though that she was seeing.

One of the bookshelves was stripped completely bare, she could tell by the imprints in the thick dust that there had been book being held in it and they hadn't been moved that long ago. Perhaps it was simply because not long ago she had been in realm of demons but the sight of the empty bookshelf unnerved her.

She shut the book she was reading and placed it back on the shelf, she suddenly wanted to go to the First Enchanter.

As Neria hurried through the halls she tried not to pay attention to the sound of singing, she groaned in annoyance as it got louder and louder. She had forgotten that the chapel was on this floor.

She didn't necessarily not believe in the Maker, all this had to come from somewhere after all and she knew more about the Maker than any other god. No, her problem wasn't the Maker it was the Chantry it's self.

To say that they often abused their power was an understatement, there were plenty of good sisters and priests she was aware of that but the bad ones were the ones who more often than not got the power. They held the mage's leash, they were the ones who controlled the Templars, they were the ones who condemned her to be locked up in this tower for the rest of her life.

It wasn't hard to feel a tiny bit bitter.

Thankfully the singing had faded away the closer she reached the First Enchanter's office, as she approached however that now instead of singing she could hear something else.

Voices.

Two she recognised, the Knight-Commander and the First Enchanter, but the other was new to her and she knew almost all the people in the Tower. There was only one way to find how who it was so she stepped closer to the door and rapped her fist against it quickly.

"Come in child." Irving's wise voice said on the other side of the door and Neria wondered how he knew that it was her, she didn't worry about it and opened the door.

The Knight-Commander looked annoyed and the source of his annoyance was a dark-skinned man with a goatee and dressed in armour, the strange man smiled welcomingly at her. "Ah, so this is the latest to pass her Harrowing."

"Yes, this is she. And if you think your taking her then you can put that idea out of your mind right now. Too many of our own have already gone to Ostagar-" Gregior was interrupted by Irving, who chuckled softly.

"Our own? Why Gregior, I didn't realise that you felt such kinship with us mages. I am sure I speak for all of us when I say that I am deeply touched." Irving said with a grin that looked quite strange for a man of his age.

Gregior looked as if he was about to say something that he regretted but was stopped when the new man spoke. "Gentlemen, you needn't worry, I do not plan on taking anyone who does not wish to go with me. Now, perhaps we can get introductions out of the way? The young lady looks quite confused."

"You are quite right, Neria. This Duncan, he is a Grey Warden." Neria's eyes went wide as she stared at the man in armour in new light, a grey warden...

They were an ancient order sworn to protect Thedas from the Blights, an event that occurred when a large amount of Darkspawn came up from the Dwarven Deep Roads and swarmed in the land in great numbers.

The last such blight had been over four hundred years ago, why was the grey warden here?

"It seems that there is little need for explanation." Ducan said with a laugh which brought Neria out of her thoughts. "It is a pleasure to meet you my dear."

"And it is an honour to meet you Grey Warden, may I ask...what are you doing here?" She asked before turning her head towards Irving and Gregior. "And what is happening at Ostagar, Jowan told me that Wynne left."

"That boy is far too much trouble." Gregior mutter darkly before Duncan began to explain.

"I am here to see if any mages wish to be recruits into the grey wardens, our numbers our not quite what they used to be and, well there have been a significant amount of Darkspawn raids on the surface, rather large ones at that." Duncan said solemnly.

"Do-Do you mean it's another Blight?" Neria whispered as dread grabbed hold of her heart, it had taken almost all of Thedas working together to stop the last one.

"We are unsure as of yet, your Wynne and other mages have conscripted by the King to lend support to our forces. We be holding at Ostagar." Duncan informed her.

"That's enough Duncan there is no reason to scare the girl." Irving said with an annoyed glance to the warden, he turned his head to look at Neria. "Now child, I would like you to please see Duncan to his quarters. He will be using Wynne's the duration of his visit. Oh, before you go." The First Enchanter said as he turned and walked towards his desk where a large amount of books and papers were piled up.

"Ah! Here they are!" Irving walked back with a folded up robe and a wooden staff. "For passing your Harrowing, these are yours now."

"Thank you First Enchanter." Neria breathed as she took the robes and the staff, this was the proof that she had done it. That she was well on her way up the circle hierarchy.

"You can thank me by showing Duncan to his room."

"Of course, please follow me Grey Warden." Neria said as she turned on her feet and walked out of the room, Duncan following after her.

As soon as they left and they shut the door behind them Neria could here them starting to argue again or rather she could hear Gregior starting to shout at Irving again. "Your Knight-Commander does enjoy a good shout doesn't he?" Duncan said with a shake of his head.

"Tell me about it?" Neria muttered before she stuttered to try and change what she said. "I meant that, he can be quite loud Grey warden...No, I mean-"

"It's quite alright Neria, may I call you Neria?" He asked before counting after Neria nodded. "I imagine that it must be quite difficult to live with people watching you all the time."

"It can be quite difficult, sometimes I worry that they watch us bath." She said as they began to walk down the corridor. "I mean, they are basically Chantry boys. They have to be quite repressed."

Duncan chuckled. "Perhaps, though I do not believe that a vow of chastity is part of the Templar vows." As they continued to walk for a little while in silence Duncan spoke again. "I wonder if I may ask you something?"

"Of course." Neria answered.

"Would you be interested in being a Grey Warden recruit?" That question nearly caused Neria to trip over her own feet, she turned to look at Duncan with wide eyes.

"I...I am not certain. It is a large responsibility, even more so if this is truly a Blight."

"It is not an easy life, but if this a Blight then we need all the Grey Wardens we can get." Duncan explained. "Irving told me of your potential, it is truly Gregior who does not wish me to take anyone. He does not like the fact that his control of mages is not quite as absolute as he would like to believe."

 _"That sounds like Gregior."_ Neria thought. "May I think about it? It does not seem like a decision which I should take lightly or make quickly."

"Of course, but I must ask that you decided soon as I am leaving around noon tomorrow." Duncan said before they continued down the corridor.

They hadn't stopped far from Wynne's quarters and the two said goodbye with Duncan thanking her for the talk and reminding her to keep what he said in mind. As Neria turned to leave she jumped when she Jowan standing there, looking fidgety.

"Jowan! You're making scaring me a habit! What are you doing here? Apprentices shouldn't be up here without a mage chaperoning them." Neria said with a confused look on her face, she was worried. In the short time since she had left Jowan he suddenly looked an awful lot worse.

"We'll say your chaperoning me, look I need you to come with me right now." Jowan said as he looked over his shoulder. "Please, we need to go before any Templars see me!"

"Jowan, what's going on?" Neria said as a bad feeling settled heavily in her gut.

Jowan groaned loudly and rubbed his face. "Ne, please not know. Just come with me and I'll explain when we get there."

Neria sighed. "Fine! But we're stopping by my Quarters so I can change, these robes stink of sweat!"

"Yes, fine whatever you want just come on!" Jowan said as he grabbed Neria's wrist and began to pull her away.

As Neria let Jowan drag her she couldn't help but feel that she wasn't going to like she heard...

End of Chapter Three.

* * *

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	4. Chapter 4

Dragon Age:

Origins

(Book 1 of 7)

Chapter Four.

Neria had always hated the Circle's chapel, the list of reasons for why seemed to be never ending for her, it wasn't just the endless singing or the fact that every Sunday she was dragged into hear to here pointless Chantry propaganda, or the fact that the heavy incense made her feel nauseous or the fact that every single priest she spoke too made it sound like she should get down on her knees in gratitude for them gracing her with their presence.

No, it wasn't all that made her hate the chapel. She hated the chapel because of what it represented, it was were the chantry priests said their prayers and where most of the Templars spent all of their free time. it was everything she hated about the chantey in one room. The mages were forced to attend services wither they were human or elf, wither they believed in the Maker or not, were forced to attend services.

They were forced to listen to sermons about how to be good mages, about how to be raised up to the Maker's side they needed to be in almost constant state of self-flagellation. She hated it.

Jowan knew that she hated it so why he dragged her here she had no idea, they walked through the large room with their heads down, trying not to attract the attention of the Revered Mother or any of the Templars that were currently praying in the room. She hated the Revered Mother, the old bat always looked like she had something sour in her mouth and her eyes were always seemed to be narrowed in cruelty.

Neria remembered a time when she was a little girl during a service and they had been lead to recite the chant, she was four years old and she had only been at the chantry for about a month and while most of the people had been kind to her she was still scared girl that had been ripped away from everything and everyone she ever loved.

When they were reciting the chant it was Neria's first time and she was stuttering and uncertain, there hadn't been a chantry in Neria's village due to how small it was, and the Revered Mother suddenly grabbed her by her arm and dragged her out of her seat and threw her down to the floor.

She then had her Templar guards to beat her, she remembered how she begged and pleaded with them to stop. She didn't know what she had done wrong. The beating had stopped when she heard the voice of the First Enchanter ordering the Revered Mother to stop, demanding to know what she thought she was doing.

As Wynne knelt down next to Neria to heal her the Revered Mother spoke, the utter certainty in her voice. The sense of righteousness even thinking about chilled Neria to the bone.

"This knife ear could not speak the chant, the holy word of our Maker First Enchanter, it clearly pained her to even attempt to say it. There must be a demon inside of her, it must be driven out!" The woman spoke, hate colouring every word. "Elfs are far more susceptible to possession, after all."

"That is utterly ridiculous! She is a child!" Irving shouted and the tension in the room had seemed to raise. "Wynne! Please take Neria out of here."

The kindly old woman did as she was bid and scooped Neria into her arms and quickly carried her out of the chapel, at the time Neria had been too upset to really listen to what had happened but she found out later that Irving had told Gergoir what had happened and he had warned the Mother but that was it.

If a mage had done anything like that to a priest than they wouldn't live a moment longer and the Templars still had the nerve to say that they were protecting the mages just as much as they were protecting everyone else. It made her sick with rage, she hated them all.

 _"Not all of them"_ Her mind whispered to her, no there were some Templar who were good people. Cullen was a good person, the knight captain who been in charge with bringing her here was a good person, a stern faced woman with grey hair and kind eyes, she was a good person. The Templar under her command who had killed her father, she had punched him across the face had him stripped of his armour when they arrived at the circle.

But a few good individuals inside a broken thing did not fix it, every few weeks there was another incident. A Templar who got bored beating or raping a mage and the mage did not dare tell anyone unless they were accused of blood magic because after all a Templar would never break their scared vows willingly.

Neria sighed heavily and shook her head, that was another reason why she hated the chapel, it brought out terrible memories and that lead to bad thoughts. Jowan had better have a good reason for bringing her here.

He lead her to a dark corner, the only light in the corner came from a mere scattering of candles at the base of a statue of Andraste, the low light causing shadows to be cast over the stone visage of the Maker's holy bride. Neria sometimes wondered if Andraste was really that beautiful, all the tapestries and stain glass always showed as the most beautiful woman in the world but was she that beautiful in real life? She supposed she would never know.

The corner was dark but it was not empty, a plump woman with reddish-brown hair and dressed in the robes of a priest stood waiting and when she saw Jowan approaching she smiled happily. "There you are, I was starting to worry something had happened."

"I'm sorry Lily, it took me a while to find her." Jowan said with an affectionate smile towards the woman, he turned to look at his friend. "All right, we can talk here."

"Really?" Neria asked with a raised eyebrow. "This is the place where you want to talk to me about your dark and terrible secret? In the chapel which is currently filled with a half a dozen Templars and with a priest standing right there, this where you want to talk? Really?"

"I am not actually a priest, simply an initiate." Lilly said with a comforting smile. "You must be Neria, Jowan had told me a great deal about you."

"Has he?" Neria asked as she turned her head to look at her friend, a question dancing in her eyes.

"A few weeks back I told you that I met a girl, this is her. Lilly." Jowan explained to his friend but he did not take his eyes off Lilly, warmth and affection shinning in eyes as he looked at the girl liked she was the most beautiful girl in the world.

Neria thought back and she remembered that Jowan did mention that he was seeing someone, at the time she had question his friend's existence just to tease him.

"Are you insane!?" She wanted to shout but then she remembered where she was so she caught herself so she simply hissed the words. "A chantry initiate? Do you know what the Templars will do if they find out? They'll kill you, they've killed mages for a lot less."

"I don't care! I love her!" Jowan whispered shouted. "And it doesn't matter, killing me would be a kindness. They've something far worse planned for me." He whispered and looked down at his feet, Lilly frowned and gently reached out and took Jowan's hand.

"What do you mean?" Neria asked but she knew that she didn't really have to ask, for mages there was only one thing that could be considered worse than death.

The rite of tranquillity.

"Are you sure? How can you know?" Neria asked in a disbelieving whisper, the idea of losing her best friend too much to bear.

"I saw the order on the Knight-Commander's desk." Lilly said. "It was signed, it will happen any day now if we don't do something."

"What do you suggest?" Neria asked, there weren't many options when the rite had been deemed necessary, the Templars might not have been perfect and the rite was the perfect example of their cruelty but even they knew, at least most of them did, to take the rite seriously and only use in the most serious of cases.

Gergoir was a lot of things but he wasn't a bad man, he wouldn't use the rite unless he thought that it was absolutely necessary which meant any chance of convincing him to revoke the rite was slim at best.

"Why do they even want to use the rite on you? They wouldn't do it unless they thought that they had to." Neria pointed out, Jowan wasn't stupid enough to do something dangerous in the circle.

"They..." Jowan sighed and ran his fingers through his unruly dark hair. "They think that I'm a blood mage."

Neria felt a bolt of ice shoot through her heart.

They thought Jowan was a blood mage.

They thought he was using blood magic

Blood magic.

It was over for Jowan.

There was no hope.

"Neria. Neria. Neria! Snap out of it!" Jowan shouted as he shook his friend by the arms, he glanced up to make sure that the Revered Mother or the Templars didn't notice, thankfully it seemed that they were lucky this time. "Focus! We've got a plan but we need your help, don't give up."

Neria took a deep breath to calm herself and nodded. "All right, what are we going to do? What's the plan?"

"First of all we need your vow, promise you will help us first?" Lilly said and Neria raised an eyebrow and looked confused, why would she have to give her word to help them?

"Lilly, that really isn't necessary." Jowan said while throwing an apologetic glance towards his friend. "I trust Neria completely, there's no way that she would let us down."

"I know that and I am sure that we can trust her but we can't take any chances." Lilly stressed before she turned to look at Neria. "Give us your word, swear to the Maker that you will help us and we will tell you the plan."

Neria felt the sudden urge to roll her eyes at the other woman, as if saying a few words and promising to the Maker that it was true would make certain that she wasn't lying. She had sworn things to the Maker plenty of times before that weren't true, like that time she had sworn to the Maker that she hadn't been the one to put that wild Fennec that had gotten into the tower in the Knight-Commander's office.

If the Maker was really listening and really cared then why wasn't Neria struck down with a lightning bolt?

But still it was clear that Lilly wouldn't tell her anything until she had given her word.

"All right fine, I swear to the Maker that I will not tell anyone about what your planning. If I am lying or will tell anyone then may a lightning bolt strike me down now and may my soul wander the void for eternity." Neria said with her head tilted to toward's the roof.

Lilly smiled and her bright blue eyes shinned with satisfaction, believing without a doubt that if someone swore something to her god than there was no way that they could go back on it. "Thank you, now, the plan is for use to go down to the Tower vaults and find Jowan's phylactery."

Neria narrowed her eyes as she thought what she just heard over, getting into the vaults would be the hardest part as only Irving and Gergoir were allowed in and only they together could grant permission for someone to go down to the vault and even then that person could only go down if either the First Enchanter or the Knight-Commander went with them.

The precautions were necessary however, the vaults held a great deal of magical artefacts and many of which were extremely dangerous. Some of them if used right could probably reduce this tower to rubble and while Neria was not always pleased with the circle or the Templars or the chantry supervision, she knew that the circle was something of a necessary evil.

The next problem was that if they somehow could get into the vaults there was any defences that they might have to get through, there had always been rumours about the vaults, which Neria supposed was quite natural considering that the vaults were a place that only a very few were allowed to go.

But the rumors that came out of the vaults were disturbing however, walking suits of armour and demons bound by ancient enchantments, curses that made mages go blind, most of it was most likely nonsense but it didn't change the fact that there was no way that the vault didn't have some protection beyond it being just difficult to get into.

"All right, how are we going to get into the vault? We can't exactly go to Irving or to Gregoir and ask them to let us in." Neria said as she tried to think of another way.

"The door to the vaults can only be opened with a password and surge of magic." Lilly pointed out, as Jowan and Neria turned their heads to look at her she continued. "I have the password, once I saw the order I waited until the Knight-Commander left and I..." Lilly looked down at her feet. "I went through his documents, Maker forgive me."

"Not bad." Neria said with a smirk, maybe the little priest had some hope after all. "So, what are we waiting for? Let's get going."

"There's another problem." Lilly said as she held up her hands. "I saw some of the old designs of the tower, the password only opens the vaults door, the door to the phylactery chamber is barred and I couldn't find the key and if I did then the Knight-Commander would notice it was gone."

"I think I might have the answer to that." Jowan said with a smile. "We need a rod of fire, it's an item mainly used in alchemical experiments but I've seen one melt steel without damaging anything around it, that could get us through the door easily."

"There'd be one in the circle stockrooms, I'll go and ask Owain for one." Neria said. "You two wait here and I'll be back before you know it."

Neria turned to leave but as she did a hand landed on her shoulder and she looked back to see Jowan standing behind her, a grateful smile on his tired face and she realised with a jolt that this was the first smile of his she had seen in a while that actually managed to reach his eyes.

"Ne, thank you. I can't begin to tell you what this means to me, to us." Jowan pulled Neria into a hug. "Thank you Sister." He whispered into her ear before he let her go.

Neria smiled and left the chapel, if she cried in front of him then Jowan would never let her live it down.

She eventually made her way to open space that made up the circle stockrooms and approached Owain, the man tilted his head up to look at her his brown eyes as empty as ever. "How may I help you?"

"Hello again Owain, I wonder if you could get me a rod of fire? I need it for..." Neria suddenly realised that she hadn't really thought of a good reason for why she needed the rod. "...into burning things, a very under researched subject. You wouldn't think so, but tis true."

"I am sorry but items can not be taken out of the stockrooms without the approval of a senior enchanter." Owain said before he turned and took a piece of parchment out of a chest that was near his feet and passed it over to Neria as he continued to explain. "This is a request form for a rod of fire, if you get it signed by a senior enchanter then I will be able to give you a rod of fire."

Neria frowned as she looked down at the piece of parchment in her hands, she had only been an official mage of the circle for the better part of an afternoon, how was she going to get an senior enchanter to sign it?

She nodded to Owain and left the room with the paper still clutched tightly in her hands, this was going to be near impossible to pull off, even if she could find a senior enchanter who would sign form for a rod of fire without question and even if she, Jowan and Lilly did mange to get into the phylactery chamber there was still the matter of escaping the tower itself.

It suddenly hit her that going through with this meant that she would have to leave the tower as well, while she might not be totally against that in theory there were some problems, the main one being that her phalctary would not be in the vaults, now that she was a fully harrowed mage her's would have been sent to Deneriem, Ferelden's capital.

The Templars would be able to use her phalctary to track her down, the obivous hypocrisy of the Templars using what was obviously Blood Magic to keep them in line angered her but that honestly didn't matter at the moment, as soon as they found her they would drag her back here and that would be the end.

Escaping the tower and helping another Mage to escape were crimes that she would not be let off for, she would either have a sword driven through her chest or she would be made tranquil and that possiblity scared her more than anything else in the world.

Jowan was her friend, he had been her friend ever since she had arrived in the tower as a little girl and he showed her around. But was her friendship with him worth everything else?

As she stared down at the paper in her hands, she knew that she knew the answer.

* * *

Irving was sitting at his desk and reading through reports, he looked up as he heard a knock on his door and saw his prized student standing there in the open doorway with a piece of paper clutched in her hands and a troubled expression on her face.

"First Enchanter, I need to tell you something."

End of Chapter Four

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 **Please review, favourite and follow if you enjoyed!"**


	5. Chapter 5

Dragon Age:

Origins

(Book 1 of 7)

Chapter Five.

Irving was silent and had his fingers interlocked, his face stern and lips set into a firm line. Neria honestly was sure how he would react to the knew about what Jowan and Lilly were planning, Irving had always been a kind man and he was never angry but you could always tell if you managed to disappoint him but now he was simply deep in thought, Neria could almost hear the gears in his head turning.

After a few more moments of silence he spoke, his voice sounded weary and his eyes suddenly seemed to be so much older. "I don't need to tell you that these are very serious accusations Neria, if they turn out to be true than Jowan will be lucky to be killed. If he isn't lucky then he could be made tranquil or even sent to Aeonar."

Neria gulped at the mention of Aeonar, not a lot was known about the Mage's prison but what little was known about it made it clear that death or tranquillity were the more the far more preferable options. The idea of Jowan, and even Lilly considering she would have to be punished for aiding Jowan, rotting in there forced to suffer Maker knows what, made her hurt but she couldn't risk everything for him.

"I am aware First Enchanter but I swear I am not lying to you. I would never lie about something like this." Neria said as she stood as tall as she could, which wasn't all that much to be honest, and looked straight into his eyes. "Jowan's my friend but he hasn't considered every factor, even if he does mange to escape he hasn't considered what will happen to us if he does? We won't even be able to breath wrong without a Templar accusing us of blood magic, I love Jowan but I am not going to sacrifice everything for him."

"That is an extremely wise decision, you've a bright future ahead of you." Irving said as he stood up from behind his desk. "Do you know the specifics of their plan?" He asked.

"They want me to get a rod of fire to burn through the locks of the respiratory door." Neria said as she pulled out the request form from a pocket in her robes and handed it over to him. "But the tranquil who takes care of the stores said I needed a senior enchanter's signature to get access to that."

Irving took the form and looked over it for a moment before he placed it back down on his desk for a moment before he stood. "And you are sure that a chantry initiate is involved in this?"

"Yes, her name's Lilly." Neria said as she bit her lip, if she felt bad about betraying Jowan then she felt even worse about betraying Lilly, she was a complete stranger but she had trusted her with this and she was stabbing her in the back. "She's not a bad person First Enchanter, she's only doing it because she loves Jowan."

"I am afraid that doesn't matter, it's still her choice but of course the chantry wouldn't see it that way." Irving said bitterly. "If we gave them evidence of her involvement they would say that was she tricked or that she was under Jowan's thrall, and it is only further proof that he is a blood mage, they would make her look like a victim rather then admit that one of their own could make a mistake."

Neria know that Irving was right, it was hard to admit but the chantry would make it seemed like an evil blood mage had enslaved an innocent initiate to help with his escape plan, there would be no one brave enough to tell the other side of the story. "Jowan isn't really a blood mage, is he?"

"I am sorry child, but there is more than enough evidence that suggests that he is using blood magic. Say what you will of Gregoir but he doesn't use the rite easily, and he wouldn't accuse Jowan of blood magic if he didn't have evidence and I have seen such." Iriving admitted with a sigh. "He must be made tranquil child, there is no other option."

He stood up from behind his desk and walked around it and placed his hands on Neria's shoulders. "However, there is an opportunity here. They may take one of us but we shall make sure that one of theirs does not go unpunished either."

"I don't understand." Neria said.

"I want you to go back to the store and get the rod of fire." Irving said as he went back to his desk and deftly signed his name to the paper and rolled it up before handing it back to her. "Tell them that you will help them, I will alert Gregoir and we will be able to catch you, specifically Lilly, in the act. There are certain wards in the vault that when breached will tell us that someone other than us has entered but I will be able to inform Gregoir first."

"Wait, you want me to do this just so you can make sure that the Templars know that Lilly is involved of her own free will." Neria said slowly, trying to understand what he was saying.

"You must understand how life works in the circle, what it takes to survive." Irving said with a sigh. "The chantry will never punish one of their own, you know this. But even a minor victory such as this must be taken, if we can show that even one of the chantry's own can make such a choice then we have proof that they are not all the selfless guardians who lock us up for our own good, their will be questions asked. Questions that the divine can not ignore."

Neria closed her eyes and sighed, she would be throwing two people on to the fire to not only protect herself but also to try and make things better for all mages. It was a steep price but one that she knew that she could pay, that she would pay. "I understand First Enchanter."

"I know that you would, when you first came to us all those years ago I saw your potential. How far you would come." Irving said with a reassuring smile. "When all this is over, I would like to offer you a postion as my apprentice. One day, you may be sitting where I am."

Neria smiled and nodded, she turned and began to make her way to the door.

"Before you go Neria, there is one more thing." Irving called and Neria turned back to face him. "The door to the phylactery chamber itself is warded to cancel out other magic, the rod of fire won't be able to affect it's locks. But there is another way into the phylactery chamber, a back way through one of the vaults. It was sealed up but there is an artefact in there that can amplify the magic of any artefact so if use the rod with it then you should be able to blast through."

"But don't be quick to suggest that there might be another way in, I don't want either Jowan or Lilly catching on, subtly is key. Remember that."

"Thank you First Enchanter, I appreciate the advice." Neria bowed and her and left the room, shutting the door behind her as she left.

Irving sighed and buried his face into his hands, he didn't need this. If he had known that Jowan would be so obvious that he would get caught then he would never had given the boy access to the blood magic tomes. He had offered the boy power and he had wasted it.

Blood Magic wasn't inherently evil, it was only a tool that could be used for other things than dominating others minds and raising the dead, it could be used to heal people from injuries that even normally healing magic could not deal with but according to the chantry Blood Magic was pure evil. It was of course only a coincidence that Blood Magic was also the only magic that a Templar's abilities had no effect on.

Irving didn't know if it was true or not that Blood Magic originally came from demons but to be utterly honest he did not care, mages were constantly locked into a war with the Templars and the chantry and they needed every tool to win even the slightest victories, to stop such great knowledge from being forever lost.

But mages like Jowan, with the ignorance and fear, risked exposing them, mages like Uldred with his dangerous ideas and want of power risked killing them all, mages like Anders who tried to escape risked bringing harsher and harsher restrictions on to them. They were all fools, the lot of them.

This was a battle that was not fought in grand gestures, it was fought in passive resistance and learning how to bend the rules and he had mastered the game well. How else would he have made his way all the way to First Enchanter as a blood mage? He had hoped that Jowan would be able to make it, he had seen potential in him but he had squandered it by not covering his tracks.

Irving stood up from his chair and walked over to a heavy chest, carved from dark wood with similar wards to the ones outside the phylactery chamber, he took a small key from around his neck and unlocked the chest and looked at the large pile of books within. All of them were tomes of blood magic, if they were ever found then he would be killed, at best.

He wouldn't have to hide them in here if it weren't for Jowan, the books had been held in an innocuous shelf in the library, they were utterly normal looking and none of the Templars had a reason to think that there was anything wrong with them and they didn't just pull random books of shelves and start reading them.

There was always a senior enchanter loyal to him standing near by the shelf, if a young mage went near the shelf and looked like they would take a book they would be brought to him and he would subtly inform them of the contents of the books, he needed to know that they were smart enough to understand what they were and smart enough to be safe with the secret.

If they weren't smart enough then he sent them on their way with a strict warning not to touch the books, telling them that they contained advance spells for senior enchanters but if they did understand and they were willing then he told them the truth he and others loyal to him would tutor them in the art.

It seemed, however, that his instincts were starting to fail him as Jowan was able to understand what he meant when he had been brought to him but he wasn't smart enough to clean up after himself, to cover his tracks and be subtle and now that they knew there was at least one blood mage in the circle the Templars began to search for more of them and he knew that he couldn't leave the books where they were.

It was part of the reason that he had decided to send Uldred away, the man had nearly been caught four times but whether or not due to luck or fate he had managed to slip away but he was not one of the more subtle mages and nearly being caught once was one time to many for him but he couldn't tell him to stop practicing. Uldred was the type to not go down on his own, if he got caught then he would implicate the rest of them.

Hopefully when Jowan was dealt with then the Templars would be satisfied with it being an isolated incident and Ulderd would hopefully die at Ostagar and he wouldn't have any more problems left to deal with.

And he was already looking to the future, Neria was intelligent and subtle and he knew that she could lie to the Templars and while there was of course a large difference between lying about childish pranks and lying about something like but she had potential, she truly could be sitting where he did one day.

He just hoped that she wouldn't let him down, he would hate to have to deal with another complication.

* * *

Neria sighed as she looked down at the small grey staff in her hands, calling it a staff was actually being quite generous it was more like an ashy grey stick, this was the rod of fire. She said goodbye to Owain and began to make her way back to the chapel, Jowan and Lilly would probably be wondering what had been taking her so long.

She left the stock rooms and slowly began to make her way back, she tried to draw as little attention as possible, she smiled at a random Templar who was on duty who nodded to her, it was important that she acted naturally or they would think that something was wrong. She eventually made her way back into the chapel and walked over to the dark alcove where Jowan and Lilly were waiting.

"You're back! And you have the rod!" Jowan said with a smile, he walked forward and pulled Neria into a hug which she returned through now the guilt was threatening to devour her. "I knew you wouldn't let me down!"

"You know me." She said softly as she closed her eyes and sighed softly, she had to do this.

"Excellent work, we should hurry and get down to the vaults before anyone notices us." Lilly said and Neria nodded in agreement as she pulled away from Jowan, the small group made their way out of the chapel and walked through the storerooms to reach the staircase that took them down to the main library, the quickly walked through it and got to the main hall beyond.

In the hall was a small staircase that went down and lead to the vaults, as they began to descend Neria couldn't help but feel nervous, she knew that she had to do this and it was part of the plan but she was still betraying her best friend and she would never feel completely okay with something like that.

The air grew cooler and the light dimmed as they descended further and further down, water dripped from the celling and Neria wondered if they had actually gone under the lake outside of the tower. Eventually they reached the bottom of the stairs and it was nearly pitch black, Neria held out her hand and focused and a soft light appeared above her palm.

Jowan held out his hand and a similar light appeared in his hand as well, the group slowly began to make there way through the damp passage way.

After a few minutes of walking the group eventually came across one of the largest doors that Neria had ever seen, it was at least twice her size and was made of dark wood, the wood was worn and she got the sense that it had been here for a long time, perhaps for ages.

"This is the Victims Door." Lilly spoke softly, almost reverently. "It is made from over two hundred and seventy-seven planks. One for each original Templar. It can only be opened by a mage and a Templar working together, first the Templar or chantry member says the password." She rested her hand gently on the wooden door and spoke loudly. "Sword of the maker, Tears of the fade!"

There was a loud noise, almost like the sound of something heavy being moved against the floor. Lilly let out a breath, almost as if she hadn't been sure that it would work before she turned to face Neria. "The password only primes the door but only the touch of mana will open it, any spell should work but hurry."

Neria sighed and shook her hand to dispel the glow and focused on the door, she held out her hands and a bolt of lightening shot out of them, striking the door. The attack did not seem to damage the door but there was another noise similar to the one they had heard before and then, with a loud creak that filled the air and made her bones ache, the door slowly swung open.

"You did it! It worked!" Jowan shouted, his voice echoing around them. The group went through the now open door into the hallway beyond, they had no need to make their own lights as there were lit torches on both walls and they quickly made through the passage until they reached the end, the passage was shaped like a L and there was a door at the bottom and one at the other end.

"This is it, quick use the rod!" Lilly said and Neria held up the rod, she tapped it against the door and nothing happened, she wasn't surprised but she remembered to at least look surprised so that Lilly and Jowan wouldn't catch on.

"Why isn't it working?" Lilly said in disbelief.

"Try it again!" Jowan said, his voice sounding hectic, nearly hysteric. Neria did as he asked and pressed the rod to the door again and again nothing happened. "Something's wrong, I can't cast spells, it's like my magic is being...blocked." He said with a heavy frown as he looked down at his hands as though they had betrayed him.

"There are wards carved here in the stone." Lilly said slowly as she looked at the wards that were carved into the stone next to the door, her fingers gently brushing over them for a moment. "This explains why Irving and Gregior only used simply keys, magical ones wouldn't work. It's over, we're finished." She said forlornly, her eyes downcast.

"Hey! no, we aren't giving up! Where does that door lead?" Neria asked as she nodded towards the other door, she hoped that it didn't seem too obvious.

"Deeper in the repository, do you think that there might be another way into the phylactery chamber?" Lilly asked as she glanced between the door and Neria.

"I think that we should at least try and look for one." Neria said.

"She's right. I am not going to just lay down and die, the rod should work on those locks at least." Jowan said as he began to step towards the door, Neria and Lilly followed him and Neria readied herself to use the rod. She tapped it against the wood and she nearly jumped when a stream of fire shot from the tip and burned through the lock of the door and it swung open.

As the door swung open her stomach dropped, there was someone on the other side of the door. They were wearing a full suit of armour and a helm and they had a great sword strapped to their back, they took a few steps towards them and quickly unsheathed their sword and held it one hand, like someone would hold a dagger.

"Oh, that's not good." Jowan muttered and Neria threw the rod of fire aside and quickly took her staff of off her back and pointed at the walking suit of armour, there was no doubt in her mind that there was no one inside that armour. This was another of the vault's defences. A blast of magic shot out of her staff and the armour reeled back, the sword falling from it's hand.

The armour then suddenly resumed walking towards them, even faster this time and before Neria could shoot off another spell the armour was in front of her and ripped the staff from her grasp and threw it to the side before wrapping it's hands around her throat. Neria gagged and beat her hands against the creature breast plate but it wouldn't budge, she tried to think a spell but the lack of air and panic froze her thoughts.

"Let go of her!" Lilly shouted and suddenly she was next to them, a dagger in her hands and before Neria could wonder where she had got that from, Lilly drove the dagger into one of the helm's eye holes. The walking armour might not have had any eyes but it had the desired effect as the armour let go of Neria's throat and turned it's attention to Lilly who took a step back as it approached her.

Before it had a chance to lay a finger on her however Jowan was there and stood in between them, he placed his hands on the armour's chest and suddenly the armour began to twitch rapidly and then blew apart, pieces of armour smoking armour flying everywhere. Jowan let out a sigh of relief and turned his head to look at Lilly. "It's a good thing I was always good at lightening spells."

Lilly smiled and pulled him into a hug but it was a short lived one as they both heard loud coughing, Neria was crouched and held her hand to her chest and was trying desperately to catch her breath. "Neria!" Jowan shouted and knelt down next to her, gently rubbing her back to try and help the flow of air and calm her down. "It's going to be okay, it's dead."

After a few more moments Neria managed to catch her breath and nodded before standing up. "I'm alright, we should get moving." She turned to look at Lilly and smiled. "Thank you, you saved me."

"Anytime." Lilly said with a smile before she knelt down in front of the scattered remains of the suit of armour, she picked up the helmet and pulled the dagger out of it's eye socket with a grunt. "I suppose that this is one of the defences the vault is meant to have."

"Looks like it." Neria said. "Where did you get that dagger from by the way?"

"I got it from the armoury, I memorised the Templar who guarded it's schedule and I snuck this out between guard changes." Lilly put the dagger away. "I thought that we might need it."

"Well, I can say you were probably right." Neria muttered. "There probably going to be a lot more of them, so try and stay behind me and Jowan and only use it if you have too. Let's get going." And with that the group began to make their way through the vaults.

Almost as soon as they began their journey through they were blocked by more suits of armour but Neria was ready for them, she waved her hands and the armour collapsed into pieces. She had theorised that because it was magic that made them move that a simple mana draining spell would shut them down and the group carried on.

It was a shame they were in a hurry because simply glancing through the rooms interested her, there were so many books and artifacts but she knew that they didn't have the time and they were probably dangerous so she kept her hands to herself.

After roughly another ten minutes of walking they had found themselves in a large, well lit room. It felt to Neria as through they had walked all around the repistory so this was probably the vault that backed up against the phylactery chamber. She just need to find that Tevinter artefact that enhanced magic and they were golden. "I think this room might back up against the phylactery chamber, may we could knock a wall down or something."

"I think you might be right, let's see if we can find anything." Jowan said and the three of them began to explore the room.

After a few moments of searching Neria came across a statue, it was of a bald woman dressed in armour and holding a spear. She couldn't think of any reason why this would be down here and then it spoke. "Greetings child."

"Holy Maker!" Neria shouted and she jumped backwards, Jowan and Lilly came rushing over and Neria pointed her finger shakily at the statue. "It spoke! It's alive, it said something!"

"Alive I am or I was, soul bound to stone until the world turns to darkness." The statue said and Lilly's face turned white and Jowan's eyes widen. "I am Eleni Zinovia, consort to Archon Valerius, prophecy my crime, for telling of the fall of my lord and his house. Turned to stone and forced to tell my lies to all who looked upon my lord's great keep." The voice sounded bitter, angry.

"But my lord's enemies came and slaughtered him and reduced his keep to stone." Now the voice sounded weary, if not sad. "Now, I am all that remains of those days."

"A Tevinter Statue!" Lilly shouted, stepping back and tightening her grip on her dagger. "Whatever it says, don't listen to it! This is a wicked thing!"

Neria didn't listen, keeping her eyes on the statue, going by the thick layer of dust on her then she had been her for years, maybe even decades. She couldn't help but feel a little sorry for her. "Is there anything we can do for you?" She asked gently.

"Weep not for me child, stone they made me and stone I am, eternal and unfeeling. And I shall endure until the Maker returns to light their fires again." The statue said with a note of finality.

"Please, stop talking to it!" Lilly pleaded, sounding desperate.

"I think Lilly's right Neria, we don't really have the time for this." Jowan said but it was clear by his tone that he was bit reluctant, clearly he was intrigued by the statue as well.

"All right, goodbye." She said to the statue and turned to walk away but she didn't even manage to take a step before she heard the statue speak again.

"Goodbye child, I wish you well and I am sorry for your lose." And with that, the statue was silent once more through Neria couldn't help but frown. Could the statue see into her past?

Or did she mean a lose that was yet to come?

She shivered and pushed that though out of her mind, she wanted to get out of here now.

After another few minutes of searching they finally found something, it was another statue but this one didn't speak. At first glance it looked a lot like dog but there was something...wrong, with it's snout. It looked almost like a large lizard's mouth, they placed it on the floor and then began to search for a way into the phylactery chamber, they eventually found a blocked of passage behind a bookshelf.

Once the bookshelf was moved Jowan nodded to Neria who nodded back and pressed the tip of the rod of to the top of the statue's head, it's stone eyes glowed red a ball of fire shot out of it's mouth and flew towards the wall, Neria, Jowan and Lilly took cover as the ball of fire connected and the stone was blown to pieces. "It worked!" Jowan shouted as the smoke cleared and he looked up, the stone was almost completely gone and beyond lied the phylactery chamber.

Jowan got to his feet and ran through the opening, Lilly following after him. Neria took in a deep breath and followed them. The couple was standing in front of a table, Jowan had a vial clasped in his hands and he threw it down to the floor and it shattered as it collided with the stone, red blood staining it. "And just like that. it's over. I'm free." He breathed.

Neria took one look at his hopeful face and broke. "Jowan, I'm so sorry." She said so quietly that for a moment that she though that Jowan hadn't heard her, she almost hoped that he hadn't.

"Sorry for what, it all worked out. My phylactery's broken and we can get out of here, and it's all thanks to you-

"It was Irving who signed the request form for the rod of fire, I told him what you were doing. It's a trap." She said and the look of horror on Jowan and Lilly's face made her want to stab herself, how could she do this. "I am so sorry Jowan, I just-"

"How could you do this to me! I'm your friend for the Maker's sake!" He shouted and Neria had to take a step back, she had never heard Jowan this angry. "Do you understand what you've done? They will kill me for this! What will they do to Lilly?" He breathed as tears of pain and anger rolled down his cheeks. "Neira...why?"

"I...I'm so-"

"Stop saying you're sorry!" Jowan shouted before he grabbed Lilly's wrist and began to pull her over to the chamber's main door, he threw it open and ran through it. "Just stay away from us!"

"Jowan wait!" Neria shouted and ran after them, they had a head start but she on their tail, as they reached the end of the corridor and rushed up the stairs after them, they ran through the door and made it into the hall and Neria followed them but she stopped when they did as she saw what was in front of them.

Gregoir and Irving, along with nearly twelve Templars including Cullen who looked equal parts heartbroken and disappointed at seeing her. "It seems you were correct Irving." Gregoir said as he stared at them all with cold eyes, they landed on Lilly and he sighed. "She seems shocked but fully in control of her own mind, I am disappointed Lilly, take her away. We will begin arrangements to have her sent to Aeonar."

Two Templars began to approach Lilly who shook her head rapidly. "The...The mage's prison. No, please Knight Commander! Not there, anything but that please!" She screamed desperately as her dagger fell from her numb fingers.

"No! I won't let you take her!" Jowan shouted before he scooped up Lilly's dagger and slashed his palm open, Neira felt all the air in the room turn cold as Jowan thrust out his arms and an invisible force picked up the two Templars and threw them across the room, a sicking snap sound filling the almost empty hall. The corpses got to the feet slowly and began to walk over to the former allies, still holding their swords.

"Lilly, let's go!" Jowan said as he pulled at Lilly's sleeve as the Templars were busy dealing with their former crowds and the sudden wind that seemed to blow from nowhere and was picking up speed but Lilly ripped her hand from his grasp. "What's wrong?" He asked.

"You're a blood mage! I asked you and you lied to me!" Lilly shouted as she stepped back, the wind was blowing like a storm now and the Templars were starting to panic, another Templar fell to one of the undead's blade and he rose up again, fighting alongside them against his former allies.. "It's evil! Look at what it is doing! How could you do this!?"

"I needed it Lilly, I needed it to make me powerful enough to protect you!" Jowan shouted back, a desperation in his eyes. He reached out for her and tried to take her hands but Lilly took another step back and Jowan looked as through his heart had been shredded in two. "Lilly, please-"

"Get away from me!" Lilly shouted and Jowan and turned on his feet and ran for it, as soon as he left the room the wind died down and the undead fell to the floor, becoming corpses once more.

Neria took deep breaths, she had been so shocked that she hadn't been able to move through anything that had just happened. When she noticed Irving lying on the floor she ran over to him and knelt down next to him. "First Enchanter! Are you alright!?" She asked as she helped him to his feet.

"I will be fine, Gregoir." Irving looked at Gregior who was looking down at his fallen men with an expression of fury on his face. "You need to get after him." He spoke softly but firmly.

Gergoir sighed and nodded, he looked at three Templars and started to bark orders. "Get after him! Do not let him escape." The Templars saluted and ran out the same way that Jowan had. "Not that it will be easy, given that his phylactery has been broken." He spat, his face darkening. "Where is the girl?" He barked.

"I...I am here." Lilly said as she stepped into plain view, her eyes red and puffy.

"You helped a blood mage! Look at all he has done, all he has hurt!" He shouted and Lilly shrunk like a mouse in front of a lion.

"Lilly only tried to help the man she loved, she didn't know that Jowan was a blood mage." Neria protested.

"I do not need you to help me." Lilly spat and Neria reeled back in shock, that look in her eyes could only be described as one of pure and utter hate. The look softened for a moment and she only looked tired, she turned her gaze to Gregoir. "Knight-Commander, I did help a blood mage and I am ready to accept any punishment that you feel is due."

Gregoir sighed and turned to Cullen. "Take the girl to the holding cells, I'll figure out what to do with her later."

"Yes, Knight-Commander." Cullen said before he walked over to Lilly and gently but firmly held her arm, he lead her out but not before he sent one last look of sadness towards Neria who sighed heavily.

"Don't think I've forgotten about you, barely a true mage for a day and you are already breaking our rules!" He shouted at Neria who held her ground. "Maker, what are we to do with you."

"How about nothing!?" Neria shouted. "I was only doing what I was told, I told the First Enchanter about this escape attempt."

"The girl is here on my orders. Gregoir. She has done nothing wrong." Irving said firmly, his strength already seeming to return to him.

"She was in the vaults, only you and I can be in there. She has broken rules and she must suffer punishment for that!" Gregoir shouted and Neria suddenly got the terrible feeling that somewhere along the way this had gone out of her control.

"If I might interrupt for a moment." They all turned to see Duncan walk in. "Whether or not Neria has done something wrong may be irrelevant, I would like to offer her a place among the Grey Wardens."

"What!? No!" Gregoir shouted. "I will not allow this!"

"My memory may be failing me in this regard but I am fairly certain that the Grey Wardens do not need to ask your permission." Irving said with something that quite strongly resembled a smirk. "What do you say child?"

Neria was silent for a moment as she considered everything, Gregoir wanted to punish her despite the fact she did nothing wrong, it probably wouldn't take long for everyone to find out that she betrayed Jowan and any allies she would have would disappear, she really only had one option.

"I accept." She said quietly, she looked at Duncan. "Can we go now?"

"I rather think we should, let us go. Irving. Gregoir." Duncan lead Neria out of the hall as soon as he began to hear Gregior start to curse, he lead her quickly through the corridors and into the main entrance hall. With a quick word to the Templar on guard the great double doors of the tower opened and the two stepped out.

As soon as Neria stepped outside she couldn't help but look back and she didn't know why she was crying, that was a lie yes she did. She may have never been able to leave this place but it was also the only home she had ever known, it hurt to be leaving. All her friends were here.

"It's time to go." Duncan said gently and with a sigh Neria nodded and turned to follow him down to the boat.

It was time to start a new life, assuming she survived the next few weeks.

End of Chapter Five

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 **Please follow, favourite and review. This is the end of the Mage Origin, next time we are headed to Orzammar after a nice relaxing chapter.**


	6. Chapter 6

Dragon Age:

Origins

(Book 1 of 7)

Chapter Six.

Neria sighed as she watched the tower get further and further away as the small boat made it's way across the large, dark expanse of Lake Calenhad. She had never seen the tower from this far away before, she had never been outside the tower more than a half a dozen times in all of her life. Sometimes, if it weren't for the fact that there were so many stairs she could forget that she actually was in a tower.

It felt strange to be this far away from it, not really bad as she had never loved the tower to start with but it was an odd change, it had been a part of her life, the people there had shaped her life. The tower had made her who she was whether she liked it or not, she didn't remember who she really was before, she remembered some things of course. Her father, their village, how his stew used to taste but that was really all that she could remember.

She felt adrift without the tower, she had dreamed of freedom, she wanted freedom. She still wanted freedom more than anything but she hadn't to gain her freedom like this, she had wanted to strive for it with the others. To one day be able to walk in and out of the tower whenever she wanted to not be forced to leave to protect herself. She hated this.

The boat she and Duncan were taking back to the mainland was currently being rowed by a stern-faced older man with green eyes and grey hair, he was a Templar but Neria did not know his name as she did not see him much around the tower, older Templars often were assigned less combat oriented but still vital duties, like rowing the boats back and across.

Neria had thankfully still been inside when Jowan had made his escape to the outside, when she had seen the scene of carnage at the docks it had seemed unreal. It didn't seem possible that Jowan, her Jowan, blood mage or no could be responsible for what had greeted her when they had approached. Serveral Templars were laying on the ground, still and broken, like a marionette whose strings had been caught.

Some of the still living Templars, were dragging the bodies of their brothers and sisters out of the lake and remains of most of the boats lay shattered against the rocky island shore, only two looked as if they were still able to cross the water. Jowan had stolen a boat and she could see it bobbing along, reaching the shore as the waves seemed to be carrying it across.

Lake Calenhad was a still lake, Jowan had been making those waves. She mourned the loss of her friend and his potential, blood magic could affect the elements themselves but it could amplify all other forms of magic but it meant that Jowan had to be skilful in that act of magic first, if he hadn't succumbed to the lure of blood magic than everything could be different right now.

The Templar boatman was glaring at her and Neria realised that what she feared was coming true already, Jowan escaping and hurting the Templars were already starting to affect the rest of them. Neria held his glare for moments until the Templar turned away, he probably thought that she was trying to control his mind.

"Are you alright?" Duncan's voice brought her out of her thoughts and she turned her gaze to him, his eyes were full of sympathy, understanding.

She suddenly really wanted to punch him in the eye.

"I'm fine." She lied before she brought up her hands to brush her fingers through her hair, she felt tired. All she wanted to do was sleep for a week. "Are we going to Ostagar?"

"In time." Duncan said with a nod. "We will be staying in the inn near the shore tonight, that is where my fellow Grey Wardens are and from there, in the morning we shall make our way to Orzammar."

"That's the dwarven city, under the frostback mountains, right?" She had read about the great stone city in books but she didn't think she would ever be going, apparently it was one of the last two dwarven cities n the world as the rest of them had fallen to the Darkspawn when they had appeared. "Why are we going there?"

"The Grey Wardens need as many recruits as possible if we are to fight the blight as well as to deal with any future problems. We shall be making several stops before we go to Ostagar." Duncan explained.

"We're arriving." The Templar said, his voice cutting through the silent. He steered the boat over to the small wooden dock and Duncan stepped out on to it, he reached down with his hand and when Neria took it he helped her out on to the dock.

They stepped out on the to the rocky ground that surrounded in the dock and in the dark Neria could just make out lights, going by the loud singing and cheering she was going to assume that it was the inn. She began to step toward it but she stopped when she felt a hand clasp roughly around her shoulder.

She turned around and she shivered when she saw the cold green eyes of the Templar stare into her. "You're going to be a Grey Warden then, are you knife ear?"

Neria bit her tongue and resisted the urge to throw a fireball into his face, it would just make things worse for her. "Yes, I am."

"Good, do us all a favour and do not come back." The Templar said with a sneer and the temptation to throw a fireball into his face was getting stronger and stronger. "We have enough problems without dealing with a out dealing with Knife Eared blood mage fucker."

Just as Neria was about to do something that would feel really, really good, Duncan stepped in between them and placed his hand on the Templars shoulder. "Thank you good Templar, I think that is more than enough." And then he squeezed and Neria was more than sure that she heard a crack.

The Templar cried out in pain and he stumbled backward. "You broke my shoulder!" He shouted in pain.

"Don't be silly, I simply sprained it." Duncan said he wiped his hands together. "It will heal with a few weeks of rest, try not to move it too much. Now, you aplogise to this young woman or this time I will break it.""

The Templar breathed heavily through his nose for a few moments, glaring at both of them before he shut his eyes and sighed heavily. "I...am sorry mage."

"For?" Duncan prompted

"For calling you a...a Knife Ear." The Templar admitted grudgingly.

"Very good, now get rowing back across the lake before the Knight-Commander wonders where you are." Duncan commanded and the Templar turned on his feet and walked back to the boat, grumbling all the way about something that Neria was going to assume was something she did not want to hear.

"Well, now that unpleasantness is out of the way, let us go to the inn. You look like you could do with something to eat." Duncan said as though nothing had happened and he began to walk over to the inn. Neria let out a breath of disbelief and followed Duncan.

The lights grew larger and the singing and cheering louder, she could begin to make out the outline of a building, it looked like a fairly large building but she didn't have much to use for comparison. There was the tower and the building wasn't as big as that, if she had to guess then she would say that the tower was twenty of the building stacked on top of one another.

As they got closer Neria could just about make out a sign, the was a carving of a crown on the sign and underneath it written in a fancy script was the Spoiled Princess. An...interesting name, to say the least.

Duncan pushed the door to the inn open and they were suddenly bathed in a warm light as soon as they walked in, the warmth of the building making her feel slightly better. Duncan shut the door and lead her over to a table, where a large man with a bald head and a bushy red beard with grey streaks in it and wearing armour that might have been similar to Duncan's but looked a lot heavily and unlike Duncan's which was well polished his was covered in various scratches, was sitting. His eyes brightened when he saw Duncan he got out of his chair and pulled him into a massive hug. "There you are man! Took you bloodily long enough."

"I am sorry Joshua for taking so long, there were some...difficulties." Duncan said with a small shrug as the man let go of him. "Thankfully, it was not an entirely wasted trip." Duncan gestured his hand towards Neria who stepped forward. "This is Neria Surana, a mage of the circle and soon to be a future Grey Warden."

Joshua stepped forward and Neria thought for a heart stopping moment that he was going to hug her as well, not that had a problem with being hugged it was just that the man was utterly massive and he could probably crush her if he wanted to but to her relief he simply reached out and gently took her hand and pressed a kiss to the back of her hand. "A pleasure. I am Joshua Lavey miss Surana. A pleasure to have you with us."

"I'm glad to be here." Neria said shyly, she didn't want to be rude whatever she actually felt, if not for the Grey Wardens taking her in then she would've been killed or made tranquil or been sent to Aeonar like Lilly, it would take time for her to get used to this but it was far better than any other alternative.

"Tell me we didn't come all this way for just one Mage." A husky voice said and Neria turned to look as a dusky skinned woman dressed in similar armour to Duncan with a long sword strapped to her back and her black hair tied back into a bun. "I told you it would be a waste of time Duncan."

"There were some difficulties, but you know better than most that even one mage is powerful enough to be a great help Aneesa." Duncan pointed out as he sat down at the table with Joshua.

"Maybe. A pleasure to meet you my dear." Aneesa said and held out her hand and Neria took it, her grip was so firm that for a moment she thought that she heard her bones crack. As soon as the other woman let go of her hand Neria shook it to try and ease the ache inside of it.

The woman chuckled and sat down at the table next to her fellow Grey Wardens, Neria sat down as well and as soon as she did Joshua raised his hand and bellowed. "Oi! Who do I have to stab to get some drinks and something to eat?"

Not long after he bellowed a female dwarf with rust coloured hair messily pulled back into a pony tail with a large platter with four mugs of ale resting atop it. She set the platter down on the table and when the mugs had been removed from it she picked the platter up and made her way back to the bar. "I will be back with your food in a bit." She called over her shoulder.

Joshua raised his mug to his lips and tilted his head back as he poured the golden liquid down his throat, Duncan chuckled at his fellow Grey Warden as he nursed his drink, Anessa doing much the same.

Neria glanced down into her mug, there was officially speaking no alcohol allowed in the tower but that hadn't stopped some of the senior mages from sneaking some in, she knew that Wynne, for example, always had a bottle of wine or two stashed in her room somewhere. Neria herself had never drunk any wine or anything alcoholic in her entire life but she supposed there was first time for everything, she was finally out of the tower after all.

Time to live a little.

She raised the mug to her own lips and tilted it back, as soon as the liqud touch her tongue she spluttered and coughed as she dropped the mug. Maker, it tasted foul! How could people drink this swill? She was vaguely aware that Joshua and Aneesa were laughing at her while Duncan was patting her gently on the back to try and clear her throat, all through she could hear him chuckling as well.

"Maker, how can anyone drink this?" Neria asked after she finally managed to stop coughing, her voice a little raspy from coughing so much.

"It does take a while to get used too." Joshua said with a chuckle as he slammed his empty mug down on to the table so hard that Neria was fairly sure she heard the wood split. "Mind you, this ale is shit. I've pissed better than this!"

The dwarven serving girl came back with an annoyed look on her face, on her platter with four steaming blows of stew on top of it. She placed the platter on the table once again and as soon as they had all taken the bowls off the platter she picked it up once again. Before she could head back to the bar once again however Neria spoke up. "Excuse me."

The serving girl sighed and turned to face her. "Yes?"

"Could I ask your name?" Neria asked gently, she didn't want to be rude to the person who was serving her food and she didn't know how a complete stranger would react to that, in the circle a lot of new people were not okay with being asked their name right away as they were often still upset about being torn away from their families and it often took them days to disclose even that much.

"It's Felsi." The girl said as she adjusted the platter in her hands, it was a large platter but it looked even larger in her hands.

"Nice to meet you Felsi, I don't suppose I could have some bread could I?" She asked sheepishly, she didn't want to make any extra work for the woman but she had been unconscious for days and she hadn't actually eaten at all yet and while the stew looked very nice she did not think that it would fill her.

Felsi was silent for a moment before she nodded and walked back to the bar, in a few moments returned with a small place which held not only half a small loaf of bread but also a small wedge of cheese and some small little cakes as well as a knife to cut through the loaf. "You look like you were really hungry, don't let anyone know or they are all going to start asking for it." And with that she was gone.

"She must like you, in my experience serving girls always try to do as little work as possible." Joshua said as he dug into his stew with his spoon and shovelled it into his mouth.

"And I am sure it has nothing to do with your personal charms or table manners." Anessa muttered with a smirk, Joshua stopped eating for a moment and held up his middle finger to her before he went back to eating.

Neria cut into the loaf and came away with a large slice of bread and looked down into the bowl, it seemed to be a fine stew with chunks of lamb, carrots and onions. She dipped the bread into the blow and when the bread had absorbed a good deal of the gravy she brought it up to her lips and bit into it, she had to stifle a moan at the taste.

She finished the rest of that slice of bread in three bites and then cut into the loaf again, she didn't give a crap if she looked like a greedy pig she was hungry and she had every right to be. She finished the rest of the loaf and eat the stew as well. She didn't bother to eat the cheese and instead simply went on to the small baked cakes, she bit into one and her mouth was filled with the taste of lemon.

The diet of the circle was fairly strict, in the morning they would have thick, bland porridge, in the afternoon they would have soup with a few slices of bread and for evening supper and they rarely, if ever got any sweet things. She ate two more of the cakes and looked up at the others. "Would you like some of these?" She said as she offered the rest of the cakes, there were at least five left.

"Thank you Neria." Duncan said as he picked up a cake from the platter and bite into it, Joshua and Anessa took one each as well. Neria picked her mug back up and tried again to drink some of it, if she took small sips then the ale wasn't that bad, she wouldn't choose to drink it as a first option but it was certainly a lot better than having nothing to drink.

The door of the inn opened again and Neria could just make out the sounds of a pair of footsteps approaching the table, Neria looked over her shoulder and saw two dressed in the familiar armour approaching, one was a tall man though not as tall as Joshua and he had a pair of sage green framed in a stern face with a narrow nose and thin lips, he had long black hair and a small amount of black stubble on his chin and his cheeks.

The other man was shorter but more sturdily built than his fellow warden, he had short rust coloured hair and a fine dusting of red stubble on his face. He had blue eyes, a similar colour to a pair of marbles that Neria once had and his face held a little bit of flab, he was not fat by any means and it was clear that most what laid beneath his armour was muscle.

"Where in the Maker's balls have you two been?" Joshua asked as he popped his cake into his mouth and swallowed it without chewing, the dark haired man sighed and sat down next Anessa and across from Duncan.

"I was trying to teach this fool how to hunt, needless to say it's a good thing that we are staying in an inn and not out in the woods because if we were then we would be going hungry tonight."

The other man pouted as he sat down next to Duncan. "I told that I never trained with a bow before."

The dark haired man grunted and shrugged his shoulders, his eyes narrowed as they strayed to Neria. "This our only recruit then, we came all this way for one mage?"

"We came here for recruits and we got one, it lot better than we could've hoped for considering how many mages have been sent to Ostagar to serve the king." Duncan said as she stared firmly at the other man, he turned his glance to Neria and gave her a reassuring smile. "This is Ian." He nodded towards the dark haired man.

"And this is Westbrook." Duncan nodded to the other man who held up his hand and smiled at Neria. "Ian. Westbrook, This is miss Neria Surana. A mage of the circle and soon to be our sister in the grey, be nice."

"I am always nice." Ian muttered and Joshua and Anessa both snorted as one. He glared at them and stood from him his chair. "I'm going to go and get something to eat." And with that he walked off.

"Don't mind Ian, he's always an arse to new recruits." Westbrook said with a comforting smile and Neria returned the smile. She got the feeling that she would like Westbrook, he seemed like a nice man. "He thinks that he has to be because if he doesn't then they won't respect him."

Neria nodded in understanding and looked up when Ian returned, an angry look on his face. "There not serving food anymore!" He turned to glare at Westbrook. "If you could aim for crap then we could have some rabbits to eat."

"If we hadn't gone out practicing like you wanted us to then we would've been here for food and been able to get some, this is your fault!" Westbrook shouted back, his pale skin turning red with anger.

"Um, there are two of these cakes left." Neria said as she stood up and offered the plate. "Oh, and there is this wedge of cheese as well."

Ian glanced down at the plate with disdain for a moment before he sighed and clearly decided that it was better than nothing, he reached out and took one of the cakes and the wedge of cheese and used the bread knife to cut it in half and slid one of the halves over to Westbrook who took his wedge happily and began to bite into it.

Neria suddenly yawned into her hand. "Would it be alright if I headed to bed?" She asked Duncan who looked up to her as she had yawned, he stood out of his chair and smiled.

"Of course, I will show you to your room. You're actually in a bit of luck, we didn't know how many recruits we would be coming back with so we only rented the one room and there was only the one bed. You've got it all to yourself and you can avoid arguments as to who would be sleeping on the floor." Duncan said as he lead over to a staircase at the back of the inn.

They walked down corridor at the top of the staircase and they stopped at the second door down, Duncan took a bronze key tied to the end of a ribbon out of a small pouch on his belt and passed it over to Neria. "I shall leave you know, I would recommend getting a good night's rest, we shall be leaving early in the morning." And with that Duncan was gone, heading back towards the staircase.

Neria unlocked the door and stepped into the room, it wasn't a large one. There was a dresser in the corner of the room made of dark wood and a trunk at the foot of the bed. She took her staff of her back and placed it inside of the trunk and laid down on the bed, she did not have any night clothes she could change into. It suddenly occurred to her that she didn't really have anything other than her staff and her robes.

She had left so suddenly, she didn't have anything to remember the tower or any of the people she had grown to care about, and whether she liked to admit it or not she had grown close to so many of them, she had been locked in a tower with them for almost her entire life, that forced you to get closer to someone whether you wanted too or not.

She did not want to think about this anymore, Neria rested her head on the pillow and closed her eyes and for the first time in nearly seventeen years she tried to sleep in a different bed than the one she had always known.

She did not sleep well that night.

End of Chapter Six

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	7. Chapter 7

Dragon Age:

Origins

(Book 1 of 7)

Chapter Seven.

With a heavy yawn Princess Sereda Aeducan awoke in her bed and brought up her hands to rub at her eyes, she knew that she should've gone to bed earlier but she had been so absorbed in her reading that she had not wanted to put her book down until she had actually fell asleep reading.

She looked over the edge of her bed and let out a sigh of relief when she saw the thick tomb on the floor, it must've slipped out of her hands when she fell asleep. She didn't want to think about what the royal archivist would've done to her if she had lost this book, it was one of only five in the entire world and this was only the second one in Orzammer, the other was in the memories.

Stone, she was terrified of what her father would do to her.

Sereda may have been her father's favourite but King Endrin Aeducan, while he was a good king and a great man, did not suffer fools gladly and he was extremely focused on preserving Dwarven history. He was always concerned that what happened to the elves would happen to them. He hated the destruction of knowledge in all it's forms and he despised ignorance.

Sereda threw off her covers and stepped out of bed and took off her night dress and let it fall to the ground before walking across her room to where the large chest which held all of her clothes was waiting for her, she opened it and was about to take out a dress that was a lovely jade colour when she remembered that she wasn't wearing a dress today, today was the day.

She shut her chest and walked back over to her bed, to the side of which stood a large closet which had the symbol of House Aeducan carved in to it's front. She was certainly not blind as to what it represented and why her ancestors were so proud of what they had made, but by The Ancestors did they go overboard. The mark was even on her chamber pot, was she supposed to think of the glory and great triumphs of the royal house of Orzammar even when she was taking a shit?

She pulled open the cupboard and smiled at the ancient armour that hung within it, it was utterly beautiful, milk white plate with golden chainmail with the house symbol etched into the breastplate, this was the armour that all the commander of Orzammar's forces wore. It had been modified over the centuries to make sure that it would always fit the current commander.

And that was her.

Well, it wasn't her yet. There were hours of endless ceremonies where she would have to accept the lords and ladies of Orzammar's endless blessings and she would have to be blessed by the Stone but it would be over by the end of the day and she would stand as Commander.

She couldn't wait.

She only hoped that she wouldn't have to listen to too much of Trian's endless complaining, ever since it was announced that she would become commander he would not shut up about it, not matter what she said or he did he would always say that she wasn't prepared for it, she would've retorted with that he wasn't ready to be the king but she knew the sort of pain that would land her in so she had managed to refrain from doing so thus far.

Didn't make it less true however.

Trian would be a terrible king and everyone knew that, he was short-tempered and impulsive and had few friends and was having trouble gaining the votes from the Assembly and no one would sit the throne of Orzammar without the support of the lords of the Assembly.

It never made sense to her how the humans would simply let the child of the King or Queen rule after they died simply because they were the child, it was true that as the King's eldest son then Trian was expected to take over for their father but it wasn't a certainty. If the lords cast their vote for someone else then he or she would be the new ruler of Orzammar.

It would be extremely unusual if that actually happened but it wasn't unheard off, whoever was elected the ruler would need a clear majority of votes, if they only won by a slim minority of votes then there would be a great deal of unrest. There had been cases of a slim majority of votes actually causing there to be a recount, and at the moment it looked like that was what was going to happen with Trian.

It didn't help that there were rumors that her father didn't want Trian to succeed him, most of the rumors suggested that her father actually favoured Lord Pyral Harrowmont and if the rumors turned out to be true then she would certainly be happy with that choice.

It would mean of course that House Aeducan would no longer be the royal house of Orzammar but it hardly meant they would have to go down the mines, Trian didn't see it like that of course, he saw it as someone trying to steal something that was rightfully his and it enraged him.

But it didn't enrage him half as much as the rumors that she was being considered to be the next ruler, it didn't surprise her much to be honest. She was well known by all the lords of the assembly and it was the worst kept secret in Orzammar that she was her father's favourite and that she was very young to be appointed commander of their force and being the commander would give her a great deal of renown with the lords.

It was just a rumour of course, and in truth she did not want to be the queen. She didn't think that she would have the stomach for it, that didn't stop Trian from glaring daggers at her back and more than likely he would try and stick a real dagger into her back. Kinslaying was a grievous crime in all of Thedas but Orzammar had a very dire punishment for it.

On the surface, from what she had heard the punishment was to have your head cut off but in Orzammar the punishment was far worse, the criminal was armed and armoured and sent into the deep roads, to be truthful there was the slightest chance that it was not in fact a death sentence and you could in fact find a way out and fight your way up to the surface but that was near impossible.

The deep roads were centuries old and were colossal, they once connected all the great dwarven thaigs to one another and it was how they travelled between them, but that was history. That was before the Darkspawn had come.

Even the mere thought of them caused her to tremble, they were terrible things of corruption and rot. The first time she had seen one still caused her to have nightmares, what ever Trian thought her father did not just give her the position and she had to work for it, she had been sent with a squad of soldiers down into the Deep Roads, armed no differently than another solider.

"If you do not understand what they go through, how can you expect to command them?" Her father had asked her, and like in most things he was right but it hadn't felt like that at the time to be certain. In those damp tunnels she had been dressed in chainmail, finely made to be certain but nothing truly special about it and armed with a circular wooden shield and a sword made of black iron.

Their orders had been to go to one of the smaller thaigs and try to find anything of use, it had been a disquieting sight, to say the very least. The thaig had been quite close to Orzammar and it had only fallen to the darkspawn about one hundred years ago so a great deal of the buildings had look familiar even as they were covered with a centuries worth of dust.

Still, despite all that they had not seen anything worse than a giant spider which they had easily dealt with, they had approached the small thaig's shaperet, the sum of all their knowledge and that was when she saw it.

She had seen a human before, many had come from the surface to pay tribute to her father and she had been amazed by how very tall that they were, she had even met the King of the surface and his son once. The creature in front of her had the shape of a human but it was...wrong.

It's skin was a dark brown and wrinkled, like it had been left to dry over a fire for too long. It's eyes were too pale white orbs and it's mouth was filled with sharp and pointed teeth that somehow priced it's own lips and caused it's jaw to be misshaped, a fat and long black tongue sneaked past his teeth and from the corners of his mouth she was certain what could only be spittle was flowing from it's terrible may but it was not clear, it was as black as rotten blood. Tainted.

It had been dressed in armour that was mismatched, clearly scavenged from dead bodies and was armed with a cruel looking sword, the iron was black and rusted in places with what could only be dried blood staining the blade, it's grip was barbed and stain with black blood but the creature did not seem to care.

When it turned it's dead gaze to them, it opened it's mouth and let out a sound that had haunted her thoughts for weeks, at first she thought it had been screaming but then she realised it had been laughing at her.

There had been only one of them and that had made her think it would be easy prey, she hadn't expected it to be so vicious, her sword had sliced halfway through it's arm and it hadn't gone any further and it simply barked out that cruel laughter once again and swung it's blade towards her head. If it hadn't been for the commander pulling her back then she wouldn't be standing here thinking on it.

They had to hack and slash and cut and bash and even when it lay still on the ground, it's head a few inches away from it's body, the Commander had simply kept his eyes on the creature. "You can never be too sure with these things, sometimes they grow back what you cut off." He had growled out before he had spat on the foul creature.

His words had caused her to shuddered and she remembered thinking how she didn't think it was possible for anyone to withstand an entire army of these things if they were all as hard to kill, and then she had remembered that an entire army could. The entire might of all of the dwarven kingdoms hadn't been enough to withstand them.

Her father had always been worried about the upkeep of their military, had always muttered about how the Darkspawn were always there, always waiting for them to weaken so they could push through. She had always thought that he was paranoid, she knew a lot better now. He was right to be paranoid. All but one other Thaig had fallen to them and that was half a world away, it could be falling to the Darkspawn right now and they wouldn't know of it and it wasn't as if they could send them any aid.

At the time she had thought that was the worst of what she would see, she had been wrong. On the other missions she had been on, she'd seen things that seemed like they had crawled out of things the humans and elves called nightmares and not for the first time she had been glad that dwarves did not dream, to be honest the concept of a nightmare sounded awful. She was sure that if they didn't need it then they wouldn't even bother going to sleep.

It was almost interesting how many different forms the corruption that the darkspawn sprung from could take, she had seen ones with narrow limbs and pointed ears like the elves that could scatter up walls and across the celling like a spider and let out a shriek that made her ears feel like they were going to burst, others were massive behemoths with crooked horns that had a roar that seemed to make the walls of the roads shake.

Still, she had faced them all and she had overcame them all. And now, the time had come. She was going to be made commander.

When the door to her room opened and her second came in, she very nearly jumped. Still, she managed to stop herself from doing and turned to glare at Gorim. Her second had that same cocky smirk on his face as usual and she got the urge to smash his face in. "I could've been naked you know, did your mother never teach you how to knock?"

"Oh, she did but the chance of seeing you naked? Too good to pass up." Gorim mocked and Sereda shook her head and remembered that if a servant saw her bashing in the face of her second then it would be all over the city before it was time for dinner. In all seriousness, as Seconds when then she truly could not have done better than Gorim, she had known him since they were children. A second was a noble's companion in all things, war and life and politics. Some even took their seconds to bed though it could never be for more than mindless pleasure, if a female noble bore a child from their second then their status would be ruined if they bore a child that was a male.

Sereda had to admit, while she knew that preserving their history was important, that was certainly one tradition she would be more than happy to away with. Thankfully, it wasn't as much of a problem anymore thanks to certain herbs that stopped a child from being conceived. Still, it was sometimes looked down upon by the other nobles that some would need to use the herbs at all. It was seen as more acceptable for a man to take his second to bed than for a woman to do so.

Which was oh so very fair.

She didn't try to spend too much time thinking on social pressures and expectations, today was going to be a good day and she wasn't going to let anything spoil it. She pulled of her nightshift and she didn't have too look to know that Gorim had turned around, he could be a prick at times but he wasn't a bad guy. She turned back to her trunk and pulled out a shirt made of fine silk and brown trousers which she quickly pulled on before walking back over to where the armour hung and began to put that over her clothes.

"Did you find the dagger by the way?" Sereda asked as she pulled on one of the greaves, you would never be able to tell that it wasn't made for her, it fit perfectly. The first commander who wore this armour used a fine sword and dagger, the sword had been kept in the Aeducan vaults for the past nine generations but the dagger had gone missing.

"Nope, I had half the palace helping me look but I'm afraid you're going to have to face it. That thing is long gone by now." Gorim said and Neria heard him moving across the room and then a moment later heard the rustling of pages, he had picked up the book which she had forgotten to put back on the shelf. "The life and many victories of Commander Cerena Aeducan." Gorim's voice almost sounded amused. "What are you reading this for?"

"Oh, I don't know? It's not as if I am about to take on a job that only nine people have ever done before." Sereda asked as pulled out the helm from the closest and turned it around in her hands, she didn't like the helm. The slit was too narrow for her, she knew why it was done of course, to make certain that no arrows would be able to hit her face but she didn't like how much her vision would be restricted.

"Only nine Aeducans, dozens have taken it up before. So, why Cerena out of all them? What's so special about her?" Gorim asked as he placed the book back on the bed and sat down next to it.

"She's one of the most famous, she took on the post on her eighteenth name day and held the position for seventy-seven years, she was still commanding from her death bed." Sereda said as she finished putting on the rest of the armour, rolling both her arms to make sure that she could move them both comfortably, nothing was a quicker way to death than a lack of movement. "I wanted some advice, didn't do much good to be honest. It was just a list of battles and how she waged them and where."

"What were you expecting?" Gorim asked as he stood from the bed and stepped over to his lady, ready to adjust any piece of armour as she saw fit.

"I was expecting some insight, that's what I wanted. I wanted to know what she felt, how she dealt with...well, with everything. How she coped with having the responsibility of making sure that Orzammar was always safe, always protected. How she dealt with having all those lives on her shoulders." Sereda heaved a sigh as her shoulders slumped, suddenly the ancient armour felt a great deal heavier and she wondered how Cerena, how any of them had managed to wear it? "The dead are silent, and we must wait until we join them in the stone."

"It is far too early in the morning for this sort of heavy thinking, I should never have agreed to be your second. There was a time when all I used to think of was where the next fight would be or where I could get my next drink." Her friend's levity lightened her dour mood and she could not stop the smile from spreading across her face, she didn't even want to try to.

"Or where to next stick your prick." Sereda muttered with a smirk and when she heard Gorim let out a baleful of laughter her smile grew with each laugh.

"True, damn you woman. You've gone and made me respectable. I will never forgive you for that." The large grin that was so very much Gorim never failed to cheer her, while it was true that in the back of her mind Sereda could still feel the shades of doubt plaguing her but they at the moment at least seemed to have quieted down some what.

"Anyway, your father wanted me to bring you to the main hall. The lords and ladies of the assembly are coming for a feast and your father wants you to meet with them." It had struck her at that moment that Gorim was dressed for more elegantly than usual, most times he only wore a suit of boiled leather and a steel half helm, the only thing that would ever mark him as a second to a princess of House Aeducan was the pin that he would ware on his front.

Now however he was wearing a suit of plate that had the symbol of House Saelac on the breastplate and was wearing a helm that was shaped like a mountain lion, they roamed the frostbacks that Orzammar was built under. Sometimes parties of guards would head up to the surface to hunt for further food when supply carts couldn't make it through due to harsh weather, she had the vaguest memories of her mother having a cloak made out of a mountain lion's coat, it had been as white as snow and so large that it almost threatened to swallow her whole.

Even the thought of her mother had turned her mood sour once again, it had been so long since she had thought of her, it was a lot easier not to. She had died not long after giving birth to her younger brother Bhelen, she had lingered on for awhile after but she was simply too weak after to keep going on. Their father had never held what happened to her against him but Trian had never been the forgiving sort and he never forgot what he saw as an injustice.

For a long time Bhelen was left out, their father had never allowed Trian be cruel to Bhelen when he was there but he couldn't be there all of the time and he couldn't force him to include him either, she was the only one that the poor kid could turn to most days, and it wasn't just a family matter to be sure, Bhelen was the youngest child, he wasn't in line to be king and he wasn't as popular with the lords as she was, he had no chance to become king and there was very little he could do to gain any fame or honour.

"Well, better get to it then." Sereda said as she glanced down at herself and wondered if she should actually change out of her armour and into a dress for the feast, she was only meant to be wearing the armour for the ceremony where she would be assigned her duty after all, she decided against it. Let them see her as the commander of Orzammar.

Maybe if they saw her as such, then she could convince herself that she was such.

Gorim nodded but said nothing else as the two of them left the room and began to make their was to the throne room where all large gatherings would be held, two wooden doors with the Aeducan symbol etched into them, the two guards at the door bowed their heads in respect and greeted her before they both pulled the doors open.

The great hall was colossal, both in height and in width, it was almost silly how big it was considering what a small people they were. There were those who believed that they might have been a lot taller once but that was not a commonly held belief and there was no actual evidence to support it regardless, the palace itself was only around four centuries old, the old one had collapsed and they were hardly likely to have shrunk in just over four centuries.

The room was filled with twenty long tables and dozens of people were sitting at each table, they were dressed in velvets and silks, it was a colourful sight and it was a strong contrast to the grey stone walls. The tables were overflowing with food and while the room was a din of noise she was certain that she could hear the wood of the table creaking.

The sight of the food itself made her mouth water, there were three large mountain lions which had been skinned and roasted on a spit and covered spices and were dripping with fat, on several large silver plates were large stakes of Bronto meat, large chunks of Nug meat were skewered and for the more adventurous sort there were bowls of deep mushroom soup, too many bowls could kill a man.

There were ales, meads and wines and if Sereda knew her father then she knew that the drink would flow like a river.

As Sereda and Gorim walked into the great hall the music stopped and the chattering all around them faded away and when all was silent a herald introduced them. "Presenting her Royal Highness, Princess Sereda of the House Aeducan and her Second, Gorim of the House Saelac!"

The hall was silent as Sereda and Gorim walked across the hall, right through the middle of it, the eyes of every single noble of Orzammer on them as they approached the large throne which was on a raised dais. Gorim came to a stop a few steps behind her and Sereda knelt in front of the dais. "Most kind and noble father."

"You may rise daughter." King Endrin Aeducan spoke, his voice solemn and echoing across the hall though as always his eyes were kind and full of love. "It is good to see you, it comforts me to know that at least one of my children is aware of proper curtsy. Your brothers would rather see the provings then attended these lords."

"I can't blame them." The provings were great championships to prove who was the greatest fighter in all of Orzammar, the honour of competing in one was said to be almost more great than the honour of winning one.

Sereda would like to think that was true considering that it was extremely likely for you to actually die in a proving as well, the objective wasn't to kill anyone to be certain but a proving wasn't like a human tourney, the weapons weren't blunted. A sword used for a proving was the same as one used for battle with the darkspawn, she had once seen a warrior take off another one's head in the proving grounds.

She honestly wouldn't mind going to see the provings, considering they were ones in her honour. To celebrate her appointment as Commander. Still, not being there could be considered a blessing in disguise, considering they were in her honour every single man of the right caste who participated and survived would try and take her hand.

In fact, the champion might offer their hand and if the champion was a man then her father might seriously consider it. She wasn't exactly against getting married but she didn't want to do it just because it might be profitable to her house, thankfully the final decision was up to her and no man, even a king, could compel her to marry.

"If you wish to go to the provings later than you may, but first stay and mingle. A great many of my loyal subjects have come to pay homage to their royal commander and it would be rude to send them away." The king commanded and when the king commanded you obeyed. Sereda nodded and stood to her feet.

What happened next she wasn't entirely sure but she knew that if she didn't sit down soon then it felt as though her feet were going to explode, even her blisters felt as though they had blisters. It struck her that she should've changed into a dress while she had a chance, it wouldn't have been so bad except for the fact that old Lord Torren who was as blind as a bat and as deaf as a post kept stepping on her toes through out their dance.

When her stomach finally stopped doing backflips like an acrobat then she was going to find Gorim and kill him for laughing all through out her humiliation.

She finally managed to stumble to a seat and sit down when once again the music stopped and the herald's booming voice echo all through out the hall. "Presenting Ser Duncan, Warden Commander of the Grey Wardens of Ferelden, accompanying Ser Duncan are his fellow wardens, Ser Joshua, Ser Aneesa, Ser Ian and Ser Westbrook, along with them is their newest recruit Neria Surana, a mage of the circle."

Sereda had seen humans before but she never truly got used to just how big they were, it was almost comical. The warden commander stepped forward, a man with dusky skin and dark brown hair tied into a bun at his back and wearing Warden armour, silver plate with a griffon on it..

At his side was a woman with a similar skin tone dressed in similar armour though hers was much lighter to support a slimmer frame, from both her hips hung two curved daggers and a long sword was hanging from her back, Duncan had a longsword and a similar curved dagger.

The man behind them was even larger than both them and was the largest human that Sereda had ever seen, she wondered maybe he had some giant's blood in him. His silver armour was not as shiny as his comrades and it was marred with scratches, a greatsword that was almost as big as he was hung from his back.

Behind him were two smaller men, one slimmer with a bow and quiver on his back and the other more broad with a battle axe on his and behind them...

It suddenly struck Sereda that she had never actually seen an elf before in her entire life, she had only seen a dozen or so humans before and they had all been royals or of noble blood who had business with her father, elves had no nobles or a king or royalty, they had, so very long ago but then the humans had put them into bondage.

They were free now but apparently while they lived in human cities they didn't live with the humans, she wasn't sure how free that sounded to her.

The elf that stood behind the two men was a shock to her, she was shorter than any of the humans and her ears were pointed. They did resemble dagger blades so Sereda imagined that was why they were sometimes called Knife Ears. She would never call the other woman that to be sure, she knee that it wasn't a pleasant way for an elf to be described.

The elf was dressed differently that her fellows, she wore no armour but instead wore a purple and green robe and instead of a sword or an axe she instead had a long wooden staff on her back. She was a mage.

Mages were something of a spectacle in Orzammar, dwarves mined the lyrium which the mages used to fuel their spells but mining and refining the substance was extremely dangerous. Centuries and centuries of doing it however had granted them a resistance to the poisoning that could occur when dealing with raw lyrium and that in turn also granted them a resistance to magic.

They weren't immune to it, when a fireball was thrown at your face it was best to get out of the damn way but blood magic had little effect on them and magic as a whole wasn't as effective on them. The problem was that being resistant to magic also meant that magic couldn't properly manifest inside of dwarves.

The long and the short of it was, there were no dwarf mages.

Some of them were skilled in manipulating lyrium and they could use that to enchant weapons, causing then to be bathed in flame or have lightning dancing across the blade or made the steel so hard that it wouldn't shatter or make an enchantment that caused no metal to rust. But that wasn't actually magic, though it was the closest that any dwarf would ever get to becoming a mage.

The woman seemed utterly out of place, she was glancing around the great hall and then craned her head back to gaze up at the roof. It only got worse when she realised that people were staring at her.

"Duncan!" Sereda wasn't sure what shocked her more, the sheer volume of her father's voice or the undisguised joy. Her father was not a harsh man to be sure but his emotions had always been held in tight check, especially in front of the lords of the assembly.

But at that moment his smile threatened to split his face in half as he approached, as soon as the grey wardens went down to their knees her father quickly gestured for them to stand back up. "No need for any of that, Stone Duncan...It's so good to see you again."

"It is good to see you as well, old friend." Duncan spoke before he let out a low chuckle. "Forgive me, you are the king now. I had almost forgotten."

"I think that's understandable." Her father said with a laugh. "Things have changed, I certainly never thought I would be any good at this whole king business. The ancestors must've been very sodding drunk when they decided that someone like me should be king."

"I'm certain that I do not need to tell you, of all people, that it is the lords of the assembly who make such a decision. And if you ask me it was a very wise choice indeed." Ducan said with a warm smile as he clapped the king on the back.

"I think we will have to disagree on that, Sereda! Come here would you sweetling?" Knowing that wasn't a request Sereda quickly stood from her seat and made her way over to the dais, as she approached all the grey wardens turned to face her and she suddenly realised that every single pair of eyes in the hall had turned their full attention on to her.

She reminded herself to breath, if she couldn't handle people staring at her then she was going to make a piss poor commander. "Yes father, what would you have of me?"

"Duncan, this is my daughter Sereda and soon to be the commander of all our forces. Sereda, this is Duncan. He's a very old friend of mine." Her father spoke as Duncan crossed his arms over his chest and bowed his head.

"Well met, Princess Aeducan." The grey warden commander spoke pleasantly, his voice reminded her of crackling firewood. "To be the commander of such forces is truly an honour, no one fights darkspawn as well as dwarves. We could use more of you in the Grey Wardens."

"Duncan." Her father spoke but now the warmth had cooled somewhat and there was note of warning in his voice, the king had returned. "I am certain that there is no need to be discussing things like that, I am certain that my daughter would have no interest in joining you. Besides, she will be getting her fill of Darkspawn."

"True enough, pardons my friend. But you can not blame me for trying." Duncan lamented but if the king's change in mood affected him then he did well in not showing it. "However, I hope that I do not need to remind you that you did promise that I could speak to your honoured guests."

"I forget nothing Duncan, I made a promise and that promise I will keep." King Endrin turned and began to ascend the dais and sat on the throne and cleared his throat loudly. "These Grey Wardens are my honoured guests, they will share meat and mead with us and be under my personal protection. The Warden Commander has begged me a favour so that he might addressed you, pay heed to him."

"Thank you, your majesty." Duncan whispered quietly before he turned his attention to the great hall and raising his voice, it was not a shout but no one would have to strain to here him. "My good lords and ladies of Orzammar, I come to beg you for your aid! The rumours are true, their is a new blight!"

There was a low muttering all through out the hall and Sereda noticed that the grey wardens seemed to have been expecting a bigger reaction like that, perhaps screams of terror or fainting spells. Undeterred, Duncan continued. "We've come to beg for aid, the king of Ferelden is mustering a great host of soldiers in the ruins of Ostagar, I do not come to ask you to pledge your armies as I know that would greatly weaken the defences of Orzammar, we only ask for volunteers, those would be willing to become Grey Wardens themselves. Please, the blight is here. I promise you that."

There was only silence when Duncan had finished speaking, Sereda saw the nobles glancing at one another and talking amongst themselves but after a while it was apparent that none of them were going to volunteer for it. Her father sighed heavily and with a wave of his hand commanded that the feast continued on. "I'm sorry Duncan, I told that you were unlikely to be walking away with any new recruits."

"It's alright old friend, I wasn't expecting to come away with much. Perhaps I can gain some recruits from the proving."

"An excellent idea, in fact. Sereda." Sereda jolted to attention when her father spoke to her. "The provings are in your honour, I would like you to escort the Wardens to the proving grounds and while your there, tell Trian that I need to speak with him. He and Bhelen should both be there."

"Of course Father."

"Feel free to spend some time watching the provings, you have nothing else to do until the ceremony later on."

Sereda nodded and turned to face the group of warriors. "Wardens, it would be my honour to escort you to the proving grounds. If you would please follow me." Sereda turned her head to look for a specific face. "Gorim!" She shouted when she saw her second sitting at a table with a serving girl in his lap. "We're going, come on!"

Gorim let out a heavy groan and with a peak to the girl's cheek he removed her from his lap and came to her side, grumbling under his breath. The small group made their way out of the main hall and made their way to the place gates, they were met their by a small squad of guards who told they were to be escorted to the proving grounds under guard to make sure that no harm would come to any of them.

They walked through the Diamond Quarter, where the elite of Orzammar lived. The quarter was unusually crowded this day, most merchants were only allowed to set up market stalls in the commons normally but in celebration of her appointment several merchants had been allowed to set up stalls to show off their wares.

Fine steel blades and shields dominated one of the stalls, another had dozens of coloured silks and yet another was selling dozens of different types of animals stuffed into cages, some of them were small things that reminded her somewhat of nugs but they had fur and colourful birds were singing beautiful songs.

"I don't get it." The large man with the greatsword strapped to his back said as he tore his gaze away from where a large rack of meat was turning over a spit. "The blight threatens all of us and Dwarves know better than anyone else how dangerous the darkspawn are, they should be volunteering in droves to help us combat it. Why aren't they?"

"Because for us fighting the darkspawn is every day, it's a fact of life. You people on the surface have to deal with darkspawn...what, every few centuries? Didn't most of you think they became extinct after that last blight? We didn't think so. We know what the darkspawn are, what they truly are and what they are capable of. Every few weeks an army of darkspawn attack our lines, trying to take this city. We beat them back as best we can but they never stop and then you come to ask us to join you order, basically asking us to stop fighting darkspawn to protect our to go and protect yours."

"The blight threatens all of us." The pale grey warden with the narrow eyes and ugly scowl spoke out. "All Thedas would be covered by it's taint if we didn't stand in it's way."

"It would happen much sooner if it wasn't for us thinning them out for you, clogging up their endless slaughter with our dead. Living in fear, all us. That one day it won't be enough and this city will fall to them. That these streets will run with blood, I mean none of you any disrespect but you will find few dwarves here will to join you." Sereda said and then spoke no more.

Of course, willingness may have nothing to do with it. The Grey Wardens could conscript people to their cause, they could take anyone they wanted. It wasn't as all powerful as it was, they couldn't conscript large droves of people anymore but one or two individuals they could take though the rite of conscription was seen as a last resort now by most wardens, going by what she had heard.

The rest of the way was silent until they arrived at the proving grounds, a servant met them and escorted them up to a large gallery which oversaw the proving grounds and just as she had been expecting, both of her brothers were here as well as the proving master. Trian's cold iron eyes narrowed as she approached and he stepped forward. "What are you doing here!? Father said you were supposed to be at the feast!"

"Calm down big brother." Bhelen teased, his warm blue eyes practically glowing with mirth. Sometimes she did envy Bhelen, while she knew he sometimes hated being overlooked it must be nice to have no responsibilities to worry about. "You look like you're going to bust your gut."

"Shut up Bhelen." Trian spat before he turned his attention back to Sereda. "I asked what you were doing here."

"Father sent me to escort these guests here, dear big brother. They are Grey Wardens who wished to see the provings, I also bring a message. Father wishes to see you."

Trian frowned heavily, his eyes dancing over all the wardens in turn before he scoffed in disgust. "Fine, Bhelen! Come!" He barked loudly before he stormed over to the door and stormed out, Bhelen followed him, muttering under his breath and catching his sister's eyes as he went.

"Your brother, is an ass." The elf said as the door swung shut behind them and Sereda could not stop a snort of amusement from escaping her.

"And he's going to be the next king, most likely anyway. Just in case your blight wasn't enough of a nightmare for you."

The proving master came over and begged them all sit and soon food was brought to them, wine as well. They had missed the first few matches but the provings were far from over. Sereda made herself comfortable and took a sip of her wine, if nothing else there would be some good entertainment.

End of Chapter Seven.

* * *

 **I know this chapter ended at an odd place but there is a reason for this, next chapter we will be seeing Orzammar from a...different perspective. Please review, favourite and follow if you enjoyed this chapter.**


	8. Chapter 8

Dragon Age:

Origins

(Book 1 of 7)

Chapter Eight

The air was full of dust, enough to choke a bronto on a good day and today was not a good day. The heat from the great forges and the bellows made it hard to breath with how it hot it was and it was almost impossible for him to catch a breath of air. He pushed through a crowd of people, ignoring their coughs and their curses as made his way out.

He felt the weight shift under himself and when he glanced down he saw that his coin purse had been lifted from his belt, he let out a sigh before he reached for a dagger on the other side of his belt and drew a knife. He spun on his heels and almost lazily threw the dagger, once he had heard the grunt he knew that he had found his mark. He smiled, bitterly but a smile was a smile, as the crowd screamed and ran in a thousand different directions.

He walked over to the body and knelt down and jerked the knife free from his back before he patted the body down and came away with a small knife with a pretty purple stone set into the hilt. It was hardly much to come away from an attempted theft but he had his coin purse back and the knife looked like it was good steel, if he could pry the jewel out then he could get a good price for it, at least a few pieces of silver.

There was also a small pouch of coins, naught in there but a few coppers but he wasn't about to turn up his nose at that. When you lived in Dust Town, when you were nothing, less than nothing, you took what you could get and even then it was never enough. Every morning you would find some other poor duster who had too much, who had slid some cheap iron into their own gut or had cut their wrists or their throat.

And that was for those who had been lucky enough to own a good solid piece of iron, those that didn't own any at all would often have no other recourse than to pick themselves up and walk down into the Deep Roads, if they were lucky then the Darkspawn would kill them before the taint had a chance to set in. Even then, some choose to simply cast themselves into one of the great forges or the streams of molten metal that fed into them through out the entire day.

And then, some just laid where they fell and waited for the hunger to kill them, or the thirst or the unbearable heat in the night. Death was a constant companion in Dust Town and many and more had welcome it's embrace since he was a lad and many more would after he had embraced her and gone to the stone. Such was always to be their fate.

When he had been younger it had always made him angry but as he had gotten older he had realised that he might as well be angry at the stone for being stone or for molten metal being hot and burning you when you touched it. Eventually, he had just came to accept that it was part of being a duster. No one in any of the other quarters cared about them at all and everyone in Dust Town was simply to busy to care about themselves and their own to care about what happened to anyone else around them.

That was just the way it was, and that he had to deal with for the rest of time. He sighed and brought up his arm to brush away the sweat on his brow before he placed the knife into one of the pouches on his belt and slid his own back in his sheath before he continued on his way. Walking through Dust Town was never safe, everyone knew that but he was one of Beraht's men and if there was one rule in Dust Town it was that you didn't mess with Beraht and you didn't mess with one of his own.

Obviously, that pickpocket hadn't learned that one, simple rule. Don't fuck with Beraht. Well, now he would never learn it at all. The scavengers would come for him soon enough, they would strip him of his boots and his clothes and anything else that looked slightly valuable on his body and to the scavengers of Dust Town, everything was valuable.

Thankfully, he wasn't far from his house. As Dust Town houses went...well, it kept them warm and the walls and doors were solid and they were not as like to have their throats cut in the middle of the night and when you were less than nothing that was really all you could ask for. It didn't change the fact that there were cracks in the walls that let in rats and lice and other things that bite in the middle of the night.

He strode up the steps to the door and rapped her knuckles against the door, there was a clank as the eyehole in the middle of the door and a green eye that was flecked with hazel appeared on the other side of it. After half a heartbeat, there was a dull thud that meant the wooden beam barring the door had been removed and the door swung open and he wasted no time, practically throwing himself inside.

The door was quickly shut and the wooden beam was replaced and he soon found himself with arms full of his sister. Rica was older than him by almost six whole years but sometimes he had found that he had forgotten that. She was smaller than he was and there was something about her that screamed out to be protected, a meekness. "I'm alright Rica, only late by a few minutes. Nothing to worry about."

Rica pulled back and then slapped him on the back of her head, it hurt but he couldn't help but laugh when he realised that Rick had to stand on her toes in order to reach him where as when he was a child Rica wouldn't have to stoop at all. "A few minutes can be the difference between life and death, you should know that better than I do Faren. What took you so long?"

"Beraht had us deal with some idiots who were moving on his territory." And all of Dust Town was his territory, so any fools who dared to challenge him really did have it coming. He could still taste the cinders in his mouth and the heat on his face when they had burst into the hideout, all of them having a touch in one hand and axes or short swords in their other.

No one had been able to stand against him, he had struck fast and he had struck hard and it had been done with soon enough. His hatchet had been buried into skulls over and over again and he had shoved the flame of his torch straight into the face of the rival leader. He still remembered the way he had smelt, the awful smoke that had risen from him as his hair had caught on fire.

Ancestors, he didn't want to do this anymore. Faren sighed heavily and rubbed at his eyes as he walked over to the table and picked up one of the many half empty flagons of wine. He poured himself some into the chipped wooden cup and brought it up to his to take a swing. If there was some sort of halfway point between swill and vinegar then this wine would be at that point. He shouldn't be surprised he knew, but all he had really wanted was a nice cup of wine to ease the stresses of the day.

He still swallowed it down and finished the rest of the cup, he had learned long ago to finish off every scrap of food and ever swallow of wine, you never know when or if you would get to eat again and there had been plenty of days when he hadn't, even when Rica had sacrificed her own stale heel of bread for him which he was ashamed to admit happened more often than it should.

Once his cup was empty he placed back down on the table and used the back of his hand to roughly wipe at his mouth before he turned his attention fully on to Rica. "Where is she?"

Rica sighed and gestured over into a corner near the cold heath filled with ashes, Faren couldn't even remember the last time they had been able to get a fire going. Still, it was one of the warmer spots in the house and their Mother was curled up in front of it, snoring loudly. A dozen or so flagons of wine were surrounding her and not a single one of them had even a trickle of wine left inside of them, which did not surprise him at all.

Whenever they did manage to get some coin in, it never lasted long with the drunken old sow taking it from them and going to get herself another flagon. After a while, they had both learned the lesson that it was better to just let her go. She was a drunk and was slowly killing herself and when she drank she fell into sad moods, but she was never violent and didn't lay a finger on them when she was drinking.

It was only when they tried to stop her from getting some more wine that they often found themselves walking away with bruises. Any love that either he or Rica had born for her had faded away a long time ago, and yet despite all of the wine that she had drunk over the years she never seemed to get any sicker and Faren had to wonder if she was clinging on to life just to spite them.

For half a moment, the insane notion of going over there and kicking her in the gut entered his head but as soon as it was there it was gone and he simply let out a sigh. "Not surprised, how've you been sister?" He asked, but he knew that he didn't need too. Rica was dressed in a pretty silk dress that was their family's closest guarded secret and her face was painted along with her nails. Faren wasn't the only one working for Beraht, though Rica's working and his could not be more different.

He hated that she had to do it, that she had to find some snob from the Diamond Quarter and try and sell herself to one of them, he knew that it could be worse. She could be forced to sell herself to anyone with two coppers to rub together but that didn't provide him with much comfort and he doubted that it gave much comfort to Rica either.

She tried to give him the smile that meant everything was fine, but he had learned how to see through that a very long time ago. "It was fine, well. Mostly fine, I used some of the power that Beraht gave me to cover up my brand and it covered it up fine all through out the party at Lady Tromone's estate but I must have rubbed at it at some point cause on the way back here a merchant at his stall saw it and he screamed at me, he threw one of those red fruits from the surface at me and screamed at me, for the guards to come."

"The fruit didn't hit me, and I ran off before the guards even came near but it just wasn't very nice, that's all. I'm fine, Don't worry about me." Rica tried to smile again but it seemed even more forced this time. "Anyway, I've got some good news. I did actually find someone and if it all works out, well, hopefully it will get us out of this pit. Or, at the very least, a slightly nicer pit."

Faren laughed at that, even though it wasn't that funny he had always loved her for at least trying to make him laugh, even when she herself felt miserable. The least he could do was laugh at a bad joke. Rica turned then and walked into the small room that acted as a kitchen and came back out with what they called supper, it was Nug stew with a few slivers of Deep Mushrooms and bread that had been baked with sawdust.

It was hardly appetising and it was in fact a little lethal but it was better than eating nothing, which for most other people in Dust Town it was a simple reality. Beraht was a monster and a bad tempered bastard but he made sure that they always had something to eat, and that made them practically rich as far as the rest of the dusters went.

But they were still poor, wretched creatures while the old bloodlines of the Pargons supped on venison and vegetables roasted in goose fat, and fine wines from Orlais and dressed themselves in silks and gemstones and never seemed to notice them unless they were going to spit on them. Faren hated them, he had hated them since he learned what hate was, he had hated them before he had ever learned to hate his own Mother.

Whenever there was a job that required them to venture into the Diamond Quarter, he was always the first to volunteer. Not only because they were the most rewarding jobs and he more often than not needed to go on those with the amount of money that Mother squandered on wine every day. But because some small mean part of him wanted to hurt them, surely they deserved it more than anyone else in all of Orzammar.

Sadly, most of them jobs that took them into the fancy part of town were simple things, subtle. Stealing silks and spices from the Surface from the stores of wealthy merchants. The closest he had actually got to a highborn was when Beraht had tapped him to pick the lock of the vault in the estate of some highborn lady but Faren never saw her, it had been in the dead of night and they had to be quiet if they didn't want every single guard in the quarter brought down on to them.

It had been a get in, get out job and they had done if perfectly. They had carried away gold and jewels and oil paintings that were with thousands and thousands of pieces of gold according to Jarvia, not that he had ever seen any of it. No, he walked away from that job with four skins of sour wine and a light sack filled with a mixture of cooper and silver coins, with far too much cooper and far too little silver if you had asked him.

But still, it had been enough to buy them a week of food and Mother had been so busy drinking from the skins to take any of the money for herself. He was fairly sure that it had been one of the best weeks of his entire life. Not that it was saying much, to be brutally honest about it.

He and Rica finished their supper in almost silence, only Mother's snoring broke through the silence. Soon the bowls were empty and Rica stood up and took them away into the kitchen and then came back with a rough woollen blanket wrapped around her shoulders and another in her arms, which she promptly threw in his direction. "The forges will be turned off in a couple of moments, get that wrapped around you while I get a fire going."

The shock have shown on his face because Rica grinned broadly. "My friend might have given me some few nice things as a gift, I pawned a small jewel, nothing Beraht would miss and got us some fire wood." She reached into a clay pot near the front door and pulled out a fat log and a few thin twigs which she soon carried over to the fireplace.

As Rica placed the log into the place, there was a spluttering groan from their Mother as she sat up and dragged her hand over her eyes. "Uhhh...By the bloody stone and all of the sodding ancestors, what's all the fucking racket?" Once she had seen Rica kneeling next to her, she let out another groan and this was one of pure loathing. "Ancestors, you're still here then?"

Rica said nothing, she had learned long ago that it was best to simply let Mother say whatever cruel thing that came into her head rather than rise to her bait. It was not a lesson that Faren had ever truly got his head around however and he knew that as soon as his Mother turned her attention on to him, then it would not end well.

It took longer than he had expected, she had got to her feet and stumbled around for a few moments, bending down to pick up some of the flagons to see if there was any wine left in any of them. After the sixth empty one she picked up, she cursed and threw it into the wall, causing Rica to flinch when it fell to the ground with a clatter and Faren jumped out of his, unsure what he actually meant to do once he had gotten to his feet.

The sudden movement drew his Mother's attention and she turned to face him, swaying on her feet as she did so. Her eyes narrowed as they landed on him and Faren got the feeling that he was trapped in a small space with a Bronto that was about to charge at him. "So, you're back then." She spat harshly as she walked over to the table and pulled a chair out, sitting herself in it. "Thought you would've done me a bit of fucking decency and get shanked in the back."

"No Mother, I am so sorry to disappoint you, but I am still here. You can tell by the roof over your head." Faren spat back with equal venom which caused his mother to glare at him, his eyes drifted down to one of her hands when he noticed her fingers twitching and nearly curling around one of the knives. A part of him wanted her to do it, either way it would make an end to it.

After a few tense moments, she pushed herself away from the table and walked deeper into the house. "I'm going to bed, you ungrateful bastards. If I don't wake up in the morning, don't come and check on me. But if I am unlucky enough to wake up here, get me some more wine." Her words grew fainter and fainter as she walked deeper into the house until they were finally punctuated by the slam of a door.

The sound of a fire coming to life and Rica let out a sigh as she stood up from the fireplace, the firelight made her red hair shine like it was polished cooper and the skin around her eyes look red. "Well, that was nice wasn't it? She's as charming as ever."

"Would you mind terribly if I slipped into her room in the middle of the night?" Faren already knew that he wouldn't do it, he couldn't. For all she was a terrible person, for all he was terrified of her and hated her and shivered every time when he remembered her cruelty, he didn't think he would ever actually be capable of killing his own mother.

Rica knew that too, which is why she said nothing and simply smiled sadly as she came to sat next him. She reached out for his hand and Faren took it readily and his eyes slide shut as he allowed the crackling sound of burning wood and the soft heat that filled the room to lull him into the comforting darkness which was the only peace that he ever knew.

Like with all good things, it did not last. The sound of a rough, rapid knocking brought him out of his sleep and he opened his eyes to a dim room. The house had no windows so you had to often guess the time by how warm it was, the fire had long since guttered out but there was still a stuffy warmth in the air that was a telltale sign on the forges being busy which seemed to suggest that it was the morning, closer to the afternoon than the night.

Rica walked into the living room with a tray filled with what he imagined was meant to be breakfast and stared at him with wide eyes. Faren stood up from his chair and held a finger up to his lips before he turned and made his way to the door, sliding a dagger out of it's sheath as he approached the door. He gazed through the peephole, and he wasn't sure if he should relax or not once he saw that it was Beraht.

He quickly slid his dagger safely back in his sheath and removed the plank from in the front of the door and pulled open the door. When you first saw Beraht, you wouldn't think that he was a gang leader. He supposed that being a member of the Merchant's caste helped with that. He was the average height of a dwarf with finely combed brown hair, pale skin that was completely unscarred and eyes the colour of a soft grey mist. He was a little plump as well, he didn't look like a crime boss. He looked like a shopkeeper.

It's what made the heavy armour he wore look so out of place, combining that with the heavy war hammer that was slung over his back made him look almost absurd, laughable. But Faren had been there the last time someone had been stupid enough to laugh at Beraht. There hadn't been much left of the poor duster after he was done and what was left...well, it hadn't looked like much of anything.

Despite the armour and his hammer, Beraht didn't travel anywhere without his personal guards, four men, all casteless and all of them dressed in lighter armour than Beraht himself and armed with a long sword and a hatchet. Jarvia lead them and she was only one who was wearing armour that was close to the quality of Beraht's, a longbow was slung over her back and her black hair was tied up tight and her lips were pressed firmly into a sneer.

"Well, if it isn't my favourite little grunt." Beraht cried out in a voice of mocking joy, his soft grey eyes turning as hard as sleet as an instant. He marched through the hall and picked up half a loaf of bread from Rica's tray before his hand snapped out and grabbed her chest through her shirt. Faren took a step forward without thinking about it and as soon as he did, a longsword was pressed to his throat.

The man holding it stared at him for a moment through the eye holes of his helmet and to Faren they didn't look like unkind eyes, or even unsympathetic ones. All the same, he still held the sword so tight to his throat that it caused the skin of his neck to break and a thin trickle of blood to run down to his shirt. The guard shook his head and Faren let out the quietest sigh and stepped back and turned his face away, not trusting himself if he continued to watch.

It was over quickly at the very least, Rica bore it bravely as she did everything in her life and Beraht was soon sitting at their table and eating their bread and drinking their ale as though he had a right to it, like he owned it as he owned them. After few tense silent moments, Beraht spat out a mouthful of ale and soggy bread. "Stone! That is foul, honestly, is this the best that you can do for a guest and a dear friend."

"I'm...I am sorry Beraht." Rica spoke quietly, sounding as meek as a mouse with her head bowed. It was the best tactic when it came to Beraht, never to look at him when you were speaking and to always sound like you were terrified of him, which was easy as most people were terrified of him. Even Rica, who was never, ever meek in her entire life. "We can't get any good flour for bread, we have to make do with sawdust. And we don't have yeast for ale either."

Beraht snorted and put his tankard down on the table and gestured for Faren to come and sit across from him, Faren walked forward and tried to look completely unperturbed as he sat down in the chair. Beraht stared at him, his eyes seeming to be digging through him before he finally started to talk. "Honestly Faren, how unfair is that? The highborn up in the Diamond Quarter get to feast on suckling pig and roast bronto and fat nugs drowned in butter and seasoned with salt and pepper and you have to chew on sawdust bread and chock down the worst ale in the world. The injustice, it's terrible isn't it?"

It was but it wasn't like Beraht had anything to complain about, he wasn't casteless. He was a member of the merchant caste, he had never gone hungry or had to choke down anything. He might never had anything to feast on that the King or the lords of Orzammar did or wear any fine clothes made from the silk or cotton of the surface but he had never gone hungry and he had never had to chock anything down, his family might not be the highest in the merchants but he was hardly near the bottom either.

But if there was one thing he learned about Beraht, it was that he was greedy. He was greedy for power, for honour, for love. For prestige and status and to be risen amongst the ranks of the nobility, that was what he wanted more than anything and that was why he had Rica do what she did. She was a noble hunter, who would seduce a noble and then try and bear them a son.

If it was a boy, then Rica's status would move up and she would be able to move in to said Lord's estate and look after the child. And all of her family would be able to move in with her as well, if it worked then Beraht would claim that he was a distant uncle and move in with them as well and get the title and status that he always wanted.

Of course, it was not without it's risks. If the child was a girl, then Rica would have nothing at all to show for it except for a baby which meant that they would have another mouth to feed. Of course Beraht knew that as well, which was why he took no chances and Rica was only one of the girls he had turned into hunters, according to him Rica was his favourite but Faren didn't believe that. He didn't have any favourites. He had people that he used for whatever he wanted, and if you got him what he wanted then he would show his gratitude by not smashing your head like it was a water melon.

Of course, he said nothing of that and instead simply nodded and spoke quickly. "Yes, Beraht."

Beraht stared at him for a few long moments before he finally let out a tired sounding sigh. "Listen, you know that the two of you are my favourites but the only gets you so far. You can stay with me for as long as you want Faren, quite a few jobs would've gone sour without you there...but Rica, I've spent a lot of money on you. Powders to hide that brand without looking like your hiding it, some pretty dresses that you actually wear to a party at a lord's estate. I spent more money on you than I did on any of the others because I believed that you could deliver. But if I don't start to see some results pretty soon, then I'm afraid I am going to have to maybe spend some time with one of the others instead."

Rica swallowed dryly after a moment and was clearly trying her hardest not to fidget. "I know Beraht, and I am so sorry but I promise you I am working on it, I actually met someone and he seems really interested in me. And I promise you Beraht, once I have a son by him you won't need any of the other girls and you will be glad that you stuck with me, with us."

Silence filled the house once again and Beraht narrowed his eyes as he stared at Rica and at that moment, all Faren wanted to know was what was going through his head. "All right, you convinced me. I am going to give you...another month, no, two months, just because I like you so much, to get me some results. Don't make me regret it Rica."

Rica nodded and Beraht turned his attention back on to Faren. "I've got a job for you, but I have other things to take care of." Beraht stood up and gestured for his men to exit. "Leske is waiting for you outside, he'll tell you what needs to get done." And with those last words, Beraht left and slammed the door shut after him.

Rica let out a sigh of relief and practically collapsed into her chair and clutched tightly at the blanket that she had left on the chair from the night before. "I don't think I can breath. I do have someone that's interested, I swear I do but he's...I have to be careful! I'm trying my best and I think I could get him too...you know but even so, it's a half a chance."

"You don't have to explain yourself to me Rica." Faren said as he stood up and walked over to his sister, pulling her into a hug while he stroked her back. "I know you're doing the best that you can, and we have two more months before we have to worry. That's plenty of time, you do what you have to do and I'll do what I have to do and everything will be fine."

After a few more moments Rica sniffled and pulled away, rubbing at her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. You're right." She took in a deep breath and then let it out and then brought her fingers up to her hair and ran them through it. "I should get dressed again and try and see if I can see him, I can never get started too early right? You should go and see what Beraht wants you to do."

Faren nodded and turned and made his way to the door and stepped out into the closed and boiling streets of Dust Town. Standing against the crumbling stones of the ruin of the house that was across from his was Leske, he had known the other man since they were both babes starving together and he was the closest thing that he had ever had to a brother.

His face was open and honest if not particularly pleasant to look at, his nose was bulbous and his mouth was crooked when he smiled and half of his teeth were broken. But he was always good for a laugh whenever he didn't make Faren feel like knocking a few more of his teeth out. Most had been lost to a few men who couldn't take a joke, but most of them were taken out by a barmaid who had gotten tired of him pinching her bottom after a while and so the last time she had done it, she had slammed a flagon of ale into his face.

No one had laughed harder that night than Leske himself and it was one of the few memories that Faren could count on to always make him smile. A rare thing when it came to his memories to say the least. Leske came strolling up to him, like he hadn't a care in the world. "Well there you are, took you bloody long enough. I swear to all the sodding ancestors that just standing around in this filth's bad for you. How's your sister? She mention me at all?"

Faren wasn't sure if he should smile or sough, he settled on a frown. "Yeah, she did actually. She said that if you mentioned her, even in passing, I was to knock the rest of your teeth out, cut off your head and feed it to the nugs. Oh, she also said to tell you that she said hello as well."

Leske laughed loudly, his shoulders shaking. "Always a charmer your sister, ah sweet Rica. I'll get her one of these days, if the ancestors have any fairness then she'll be me wife. Wouldn't you love that Faren, you lucky bastard? Me as your brother, waking up to my handsome face every single day?"

"Oh, I can't think of what I would enjoy more. Except getting my throat cut in the night or being shanked in the back or being stuck in a pit with a herd of rampaging Brontos or being encased in molten iron or being sent into the deep roads to die or to be made a eunuch or-" Leske punched him in the arm to stop him from going on, cause he could have and would have gone on, happily.

"All right you nug humping bastard, I get the bloody point. If you're done ripping me heart out of me chest, we do actually have some work to do." Leske turned on his feet and gestured for Faren to follow him. "Some dust headed idiot's been stealing from Beraht, or at least Beraht's fairly certain that he is. It's up to us to see if he actually is and if he is...to correct him."

Faren frowned heavily, anyone who tried to cheat Beraht or stab him in the back could only be dealt with in one way, the only way that he would tolerate. Poor fucker.

They strode through Dust Town easily enough but kept their head's low when they came into the commons, casteless weren't banned from the commons as they were from the Diamond Quarter or from the Proving Grounds but their presence was very heavily discouraged. Stories like the ones Rica had told him were not anything out of the ordinary.

Thankfully, they made it to Tapsters without much incident. As taverns went, Tapsters wasn't the worst and it allowed Casteless inside which was something at the very least. According to Beraht's information, the man who was cheating him was somewhere inside.

It didn't take them very long at all to find him, they just had to look for the man who looked like he was the closest to shitting his breeches. Faren only had to take one look at him to know that he did it. He let out another sigh, this was not going to be pleasant. At all.

Leske had seen him as well and made his way over to the table, positioning himself behind the man's chair so he could be ready if he tried to run for it while Faren slid into the chair on the other side of the table. The man's face, already pretty damn pale, went ever paler to the point of looking like sour milk when he saw him sitting down. "I don't want company."

"Not even for a friend of a friend? Beraht says hello." The man's eyes went wide and he had begun to stand up from his chair but before he could, Leske's hand came down and clamped on his shoulder. When the man turned to look at him, Leske simply shook his head, for once looking completely serious and not in any mood to laugh.

Faren picked up the cup that the man was drinking from and studied the dark liquid inside for a few moments before he lifted the cup up to his lips and took a sip from it, it was shite but it was Tapsters shite. He stopped drinking and held the cup in his hands, a finger tracing the rim for a moment. "Beraht's hurt, he always considered you to be one of his favourites. To know that you would steal from him, it's like a knife through his heart. Do you know what that feels like? I would be more than happy to show you."

A thin sheen of sweat had broken out on the other man's face and he was shaking, his hands quivering. He could almost hear his heart beating so fast, blood pumping faster and faster and faster. "Look, Beraht...He's been good to me, I know that. I really do know that, and I gave him most of the Lyrium I swear that I did. I just kept a single nugget or two. Coin hasn't been flowing in and my wife's been sick, I just needed a little more to keep us going. I was going to pay him back, I swear!"

Faren had to resist rolling his eyes, he would have done better to just keep denying it or even better, to frame someone else. He placed the mug back down on the table and pushed it over to him. As the merchant brought it up to his lips and chocked down the liquid to try and calm his nerves, Faren drew one of his daggers and the tavern grew so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. "So, you did steal from him? Beraht is going to be heartbroken."

The clattered of the mug hitting the ground was as loud as a war drum. The Merchant swallowed thickly and looked like he was about to cry, when he finally found the strength to spoke it was in a broken whisper, like his throat was filled with glass as he tried to hold back from sobbing. "Are...Are you going to kill me? Please don't, my wife she's...we've been trying for a babe, she lost the last one because she was sick but once she's better we're going to try again. Please, just please don't."

Faren stared at him for a few moments longer, staring at his eyes as he played with his knife before he let out a long, low sigh. "No, I am not going to kill you. Leave the nuggets, both of them on the table and I will tell Beraht that you slipped away from us, go to your wife."

The sob that escaped the merchant then was one of pure, sheer relief. "Thank you, oh ancestors be praised, thank you so much." He fumbled in his pockets for a few moments and produced two shinning blue lyrium ore nuggets and placed them both on the table. As soon as he done so, he was on his feet and running out of the tavern. As soon as he was gone, the tavern began to fill with noise again like nothing had ever happened.

As soon as he had pocketed the nuggets, Leske sat down on the other side of the table and stared at him with a frown that didn't seem to fit his face. "Are you insane? Beraht didn't just want what he was owed! He wanted whoever stole from him to be punished for it! And what do you do? You let him fucking go! Beraht is going to be pissed!"

"No he isn't and no he didn't. He will be dead before he is half way home to his sick little wife." Leske stared at him uncomprehendingly and Faren sighed heavily. "I slipped it in his wine before I handed it back to him, he was so terrified that he didn't even consider that I might have poisoned it. It's my own mixture, in a couple of moments he'll start to feel as though every step he's taking is tied down by boulders, his tongue will swell and his blood will be on fire and he will feel like his skin is too tight."

"And then, his heart will explode."

Faren pushed his chair back, stood up and stared down at Leske. "We could have cut his throat or stabbed him in the heart, but shouldn't traitors be dealt with more...Creatively?"

Leske stared at him for a few moments before he let out a low whistle, standing up from the table. "Damn man, you're cold hearted son of a bitch. Anyway, let's get those nuggets to Beraht."

Faren nodded and followed him out, trying very hard not to think at all about what a cold hearted son of a bitch he was.

End of Chapter Eight.

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 **Well, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter and I would just like to take a moment to thank everyone for being so patient as I know it's been a while since I had updated this story. That's just what happens when you have multiple big stories on the go, all of which you plan to complete at some point.**

 **The next chapter, should be a continuation of this one as it stands and the one after that we will be sweeping back to Serda's POV. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter as I said.**

 **If you did like it, please leave a review and follow and favourite as well.**

 **With much love,**

 **DiscordantSymphony**


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